Commercial Strategy for 2024-2029 - Theme 2 – Commercial process
Local authorities are mandated to ensure value for money (VFM) in service delivery. Exploring outsourcing, partnerships, service charges and income generation provide opportunities to maintain quality while addressing funding gaps.
The council is empowered to generate income through charging, trading, and investing, unless legal restrictions apply. Trading via Local Authority Trading Companies (LATCo), is common among councils, utilising trading and charging powers to address market failures, provide new services, and cover costs.
Facing economic pressures, the council endeavours to cut costs and boost income, prioritising highquality service delivery. The commercial strategy aims to reassess service delivery methods and enhance competitiveness.
To support its approach the council will implement the following activities:
Trading income review
A thorough assessment of trading and income potential across all service areas will aim to develop a comprehensive understanding of existing and potential revenue streams using the following criteria:
- Opportunity to maximise contributions to overheads
- Scale of potential contribution versus required investment
- Current capability and commercial approach
- Current service performance and future market potential
- Corporate plan priorities to meet council needs
- Any unique skills or market advantage within the service
Future pipeline commercial projects
All future pipeline commercial projects will be overseen by the council’s commercial strategy steering group. This will ensure that ideas and projects can be scoped, developed, and implemented throughout the duration of the Commercial Strategy (2024-2029), with the primary intention of generating sustainable revenue income.
To ensure that all new initiatives are fully explored and vigorously challenged, a robust governance is in place that is inclusive and reflects the inherent value of commercialisation to the local authority.
A summary of the approach to considering future pipeline proposals is set out in Appendix E.
Customer insight and market analysis
The council needs to understand both customer needs and market potential to identify commercial opportunities. This involves staying informed about national and local policies, tracking legislative changes, and aligning strategies with evolving trends and regulations. This can be achieved through a market-based approach as illustrated in Ref CP1 of the commercial strategy programme plan 24/25.
The commercial strategy steering group will be responsible for monitoring the commercial landscape to explore new business opportunities, support the individual service areas by providing key guidance on the commercial opportunities, governance and strategic direction going forward.
Alternative service delivery models
The council will strive to develop alternative ways to deliver outcomes, through shared services, partnership models and outsourcing. The council will assess the most suitable service delivery model based on legal, financial, capability, and capacity considerations, determining the most effective approach in each case. The recommended model will prioritise customer experience and look to optimise service quality, income generation, and alignment with the council's values.