Gateshead Council Productivity Plan

The Council is committed to continuous improvement and transformation, striving to always achieve value for money when delivering services to our residents. The Council has robust governance, risk management, and scrutiny arrangements in place to challenge decision making and expenditure. The Council has been resilient and made tough choices, but the triple impact of years of austerity, pandemic response, and now the cost of living crisis is reaching a crisis point in many local authorities. Against the backdrop of reduced funding and increasing demand, a strong track record of delivering within budget for the last 12 years is testament to a cost conscious culture of financial resilience.

The Budget Approach agreed by Cabinet in October 2023 includes a set of principles to underpin the approach to financial sustainability. As a Council, there is a need to focus scarce resources on priority areas which will deliver the biggest impact and achieve the best possible outcomes for residents of Gateshead. Important and increasingly difficult decisions need to be made about the relative priority of different services and the balance between what can be afforded using the scarce resources at our disposal. The Council will continue to challenge not only how services are delivered but also what is being delivered. Crucially, these decisions need to be taken in the context of ensuring that they meet the Council's strategic aims, but also with a clear understanding of the statutory requirements of service delivery. The approach seeks to mitigate the estimated funding gap through cost and demand interventions, reassessment of priorities, service redesign and better targeting of resources.

Transparency is fundamental to the Council's approach to decision making. Publication of expenditure over £500 is freely available on the Council's website and is published in line with the Local government transparency code 2015.

As a council we have legal duties to comply with and deliver under the Equality Act and Public Sector Equality Duty. As such Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is a core part of the council's business and we have committed to this in our Corporate Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy. We report on our work in this area through our Equality and diversity report 2023 - Gateshead Council.