Councils have saved £840m through shared service arrangements, new research has revealed today.

The latest shared services map, published by the Local Government Association (LGA), found there are now 555 individual shared service arrangements across the country.

In terms of savings, co-procurement ranked highly, following by shared back office services and management teams.

However, analysis shows that at least a fifth of the agreements were not set up to make savings but to improve services and outcomes.

Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, said: ‘Our latest shared services map shows once again that when it comes to making efficiency savings there is none better than local government.

‘Shared services are no longer just something the most innovative councils do, but have instead become the norm for councils to improve services, increase resilience and save money in times of significant change, reinforcing councils’ reputation as the most efficient part of the public sector.’