"The scale of the reliance of London councils on private consultancy and outsourcing firms is laid bare in a report that shows the local authorities paid them more than half a billion pounds last year. The report by the Autonomy Institute and the CADA Network has prompted warnings that councils have a sustained reliance on such companies to carry out basic functions."
"The companies provide a wide range of services that can include leasing out software and IT systems to councils, bringing in temporary workers to cover understaffed or underfunded services or providing advice to council officials on various things including budgets and planning decisions. The overall spend in London comes against a backdrop of a longer-term rise in spending on consultants and outsourcing."
"This research shows how local government capacity has been hollowed out by years of outsourcing and austerity. London's councils are now structurally dependent on private consultancies for core functions, and that should worry all of us. Rebuilding public capability, rather than buying it in at a premium, is the only sustainable route to resilient, democratic local government in the long term."
London councils paid private consultancies and outsourcing firms £555m in 2024, with payments exceeding £500m in each year since 2022. Central government funding for London councils fell by about a third after 2010, and consultancy spending rose substantially: average annual consultancy spending per council increased 76% from £11.5m in 2013 to £20.2m in 2023. Companies provide software and IT leasing, temporary staff to cover understaffing, and advisory services on budgets and planning. Spending patterns indicate long-term outsourcing of core council functions rather than short-term specialist advice. Between 2010 and 2024 some companies received over £1bn from London councils.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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