Working smarter, saving money
Plans to save £5.5m over the next three years
The Council saved £26.5 million last year – by improving the way we work.
Looking forward, the smarter working is set to continue, with £5.5m saved over the next three years by improving the way the Council buys care and support services for vulnerable adults in Edinburgh.
This is believed to be the biggest procurement exercise of its kind in Scotland and is in line with new European legislation.
The move will allow the Council to provide more and better services to vulnerable adults in Edinburgh as longer life expectancy and increasingly complex needs fuel higher costs and demand.
The services provided help vulnerable adults stay in their own homes and include support for learning disabilities, mental health, physical disabilities and hearing impairment.
Until now, care and support services contracts have traditionally been negotiated privately with individual providers as a need has arisen.
In Edinburgh, this has led to a disparate patchwork of more than 170 contracts which are currently costing the Council’s Health and Social Care and Services for Communities departments £9m a year.
Other savings
- £3.5m saved over a three-year period to provide additional homelessness prevention services.
- An award-winning team working with the over 65s saved £180,000 last year. The team improved the house home care service to help the elderly to be more independent in their own homes. It is projected this will make annual savings of £6.6m in the future.
- A direct approach to managing absence rates in the Council taken from the city of Baltimore has saved £3.7m in officer time by reducing the number of staff taking time off sick.