Fast facts

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Vale of Glamorgan is a local authority located in south-west Wales and serving around 135,000 residents

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Established in 1996 following reorganisation of Welsh local authorities

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Home to Barry Island and Cardiff Airport

£2,707.88 – total service expenditure per head in 2023/24

£2,707.88 – total service expenditure per head in 2023/24

With budgets under pressure, a council used our accelerated and curated data insights during its annual budget-setting to seek out opportunities for savings and transformation.

The challenge

Like many councils, Vale of Glamorgan is experiencing increasing pressure on its budgets. Traditional methods of budget-setting ‘salami slice’, or gradually trim, previous years' spending.

The Head of Finance/s151 Officer needed an evidence base to identify lines of enquiry for savings and transformation. Theyalso wanted to understand which authorities across Wales were delivering differently to prompt ideas for change initiatives.

How we helped

We supported the Head of Finance (s151 Officer) across the last two council budget cycles, through providing comprehensive benchmarking analysis of expenditure, activity and outcomes.

We worked closely with the council to ensure the insight aligned to both the socio-economic context and key organisational challenges, such as social care and income generation potential.

To support engagement, we led a facilitated discussion with the senior leadership team to draw out the main lines of enquiry, provide objective challenge, and collectively agree next steps and actions.

The results

The council has used the benchmarking analysis to shape its transformation programme, and to identify opportunities for both change and savings generation over the short and long term.

"The data was very clearly presented as well as being very timely, and facilitated an engaging and constructive discussion. It has been an important element of our medium-term financial planning."
Matt Bowmer, Head of Finance, Vale of Glamorgan

About our team

"Our team provides access to insight on the financial performance, socio-economic context, and outcomes for a range of public services across the country. We help organisations shape, improve and transform public services from analysis through to final delivery."
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Claire Hampson
Associate Director