More for less - the Hammersmith and Fulham council tax story

LOWERING DEBT
By selling assets we no longer need, we have reduced our debt burden by a staggering £20 million, saving council taxpayers more than £1.7 million a year in reduced payments. Before we spend a penny on services, we currently have to spend £10 million of taxpayers’ money just servicing our historic debt. For every million we can trim off that bill, we are saving taxpayers £100,000 a year, forever. Reducing the debt bill means there is more to spend on services. 

COMPETITION
By introducing competition to £90 million of council services, we have saved £1.3 million a year. While saving money, we are improving the quality of services. For example, since  the street cleaning contract was awarded, 93 per cent of our streeets are cleaner than the national standards, up seven per cent.

CUTTING WASTE
Reducing the number of staff employed at the town hall and cutting the costs of our office space have produced major savings, with more to come. We are looking at more efficient ways of working, such as enabling more people to get services, such as parking permits, via the internet, and buying our supplies more cost-effectively.
“The fact remains that too many families are being crippled by high bills. With high interest rates and the cost of living rising, we simply do not believe people can afford to pay any more.”
Council Leader Stephen Greenhalgh.

THE DETAILS
Fewer staff
Overall, the number of staff employed by the council has fallen by 566 posts. We have cut policy advisor posts. Staff are working harder and their productivity is up. Better ways of working mean we need fewer people to provide the same, or better, standards of service. For example, we have brought together all our human resources staff into one central team, and reduced the number of staff.

Cutting printing and publicity costs
We have saved £300,000 on the cost of producing our newspaper for residents, h&f News. This has been done by raising more money from commercial advertising and by using cheaper paper. By out-sourcing our printing and getting printing firms to quote more competitively, we are saving 20% on the costs of our leaflets and brochures, saving another £300,000.

Reducing office costs
Council staff work from a large number of different offices all across the borough. We have made savings by concentrating staff in fewer buildings, saving money on rents, heating, lighting and security. For example, staff who work with schools have been moved into the schools they support, freeing up space in council offices. We are also expanding home and mobile working, to reduce office costs even further., saving £1.1million.

Cutting energy costs
Automatic switches now cut the lights whenever our offices are empty. We are installing solar panels on the town hall roof and we are buying our energy more cheaply.

Closing under-used services
Some services were expensive to run but benefited very few people and we have closed or reduced these. They include Sands End public laundry, where alternative commercial services are available at a better price and the staff canteen which was used by very few staff.

Community support centre
By setting up a one-stop-shop for all social care and support services, we are planning to save £350,000, as well as making it easier for residents to use these services. They will have a single point of contact, rather than having to make separate applications to a series of individual services.

Using IT to do things more efficiently
When people report problems, make payments or apply for services via the internet or over the phone, rather than by coming into council offices in person, it costs the council less. Many people prefer to do business with us on-line or by phone, so expanding the range of services available in this way is popular with residents. This, together with huge improvements in how we handle public enquiries and service requests, has netted a saving of £4 million.

AND WE'RE INVESTING MORE TOO
As well as cutting council tax, we are investing in services that are important to residents.

BRAND NEW LIBRARY
The new Shepherds Bush library, worth £2.5million, was built at a cost of just £250,000 to the taxpayer, thanks to negotiations to secure major funding from the Westfield shopping centre.

24/7 POLICING
The council and local businesses are putting an extra £4million over two years to put more bobbies on the beat in Fulham, Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush town centres.

PARKS
Our multi-million pound parks investment programme includes major revamps for Normand Park on Lillie Road, Shepherds Bush Green, South Park and Bishop’s Park. Since market-testing grounds maintenance, three of our parks have been judged to be among the best in Britain.

SCHOOLS
More than £175 million is due to be injected into secondary schools as part of the Council’s vision to make H&F a borough of opportunity.