Councils must stem the mounting demand for services by finding a long-term answer to the challenges of austerity, a report claims.
Despite facing a £14.4bn ‘black hole’ in funding by 2020, ‘relatively few’ local authorities are making demand management a central aspect of their strategies for the future – according to a study by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).
While most politicians and executives are aware current strategies are not an answer to the demands of austerity or an ageing society, there is ‘some way to go’ before a ‘whole system, whole place’ approach to managing service demand is the norm in town halls.
The Managing Demand report - produced in partnership with the Local Government Association (LGA), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Collaborate and iMPOWER – urges councils to focus services on ultimate outcomes and examine the opportunities in community leadership.
Chairman of the LGA, Sir Merrick Cockell, said: ‘ In an ageing society, the demand on councils to provide care services is growing. To cope with the changes there needs to be a fundamental reform of the way the public sector works and an honest reappraisal of what public services should look like.
‘As well as supporting early intervention we need to promote and sustain changes of behaviour in communities that will help councils to manage rising demand.
Demand for social services is set to spiral by 2030, with the number of people aged 65 and over who require daily disability-related assistance expected to almost double.
Chair of Public Services at the RSA, Ben Lucas, said: ‘Public services are facing huge pressures from shrinking resources, rising demand and a changing society.
‘Demand management has emerged as an influential agenda in local government, but it often lacks definition.’
Director of iMPOWER, Jon Ainger, said: ‘This report is a timely reminder that the local state is not sustainable without a significant focus on understanding and reshaping demand for public services.
‘Traditional modes of transformation and the usual paths to savings have both been exhausted. Local public services need to get past the cultural addiction to certainty and focus on making the behaviour change of staff, of local partners and of the public their core business. Best practice is still to be invented; we all need to be throwing the innovation kitchen sink at trying to get this right.’
