Efficiency Savings and Shared Services in Adult and Community Learning, Third Sector and Not for Profit Organisations

The project is seeking to share good practice ideas for shared services and efficiency savings within and across Adult and Community Learning services, the Third Sector and Not for Profit Providers.  It is envisaged that the materials produced will support provider organisations to work collaboratively to make efficiency savings.

The work will be led by NIACE and guided by an Expert Advisory Group comprising representatives from the sectors involved.  An on-line survey will seek to gather views from a wide range of providers and will be followed up with a number of pen pictures and case studies identifying good practice.  Action research will also be undertaken by providers which will help inform the case studies and the development of appropriate resources. The work will be informed by developments from the Efficiency Innovation Fund projects, sharing information across the strands will ensure that good practice and ideas are disseminated as widely as possible.

The target audience is Local Authorities, Third Sector and Not for Profit learning organisations across England.

The Expert Advisory Group will meet in November and action research will start in December 2010 completing in February 2011.  An on-line survey will be circulated in early December with interviews for case studies taking place December 2010 - February 2011.  Resources will be produced to support the sector to work collaboratively to make efficiency savings and a final report will be produced in March 2011.

The main impact of the work will be to provide providers in the sectors identified with examples of good practice and models for efficiency savings and shared services which they will be able to use and/or adapt for their own use.  The work will link with the Efficiency Innovation Fund work which is running alongside focused primarily on colleges of further education.

Jane Ward

jane.ward@niace.org.uk