Strategic / Corporate Planning Support
We help our local government clients identify, design, and implement lasting strategic change to help them meet their goals. Working alongside Council senior teams, we help develop comprehensive, robust, and practical planning documents ranging from high-level, long-term corporate plans to detailed, one-year annual service delivery plans and workplans for individual departments.
We understand the issues facing the local government sector, including urban renewal, transport, housing, and the integration of new communities, and can therefore support clients in taking strategic approaches to managing these challenges.
Workforce
Planning
We provide project management support to our clients as they undertake a range of projects from short, small-scale projects to large multi-annual programmes of work. Our team includes Prince2-qualified practitioners who bring their knowledge and experience to local government clients to ensure success. We know that managing projects and programmes of work is a constant challenge within the local government sector, and it is critical to ensure this is done in line with best practice to prevent delay or failure. We can manage, or support the management of, these programmes to ensure that they remain on track and aligned with our clients’ overall goals.
Economic
Appraisal
We support our clients in planning, preparing, and delivering workshops to inform various processes, including the development of Corporate Plans and other critical organisational planning processes, and to gather pertinent input and views from key stakeholders. When appointed as facilitators, we provide material in advance of workshops, ensure engagement throughout, and document feedback to support our clients. Local authorities have a broad and diverse range of stakeholders with varying needs; our service is tailored to meet the needs of both your organisation and your stakeholders.
Project and Programme Management
We support our clients with a broad range of services in relation to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG. We can assist local authorities in implementing the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty, the Local Authority Climate Action Plan, and other applicable obligations and targets. For more information on our ESG services, click here.
ESG
Services
We are a trusted partner in developing comprehensive business cases tailored for the Infrastructure Guidelines (formerly the Public Spending Code). With a deep understanding of the guidelines governing capital projects, we seamlessly guide our clients through the project lifecycle, from inception to Exchequer approval. Our team excels at providing strategic insights, conducting rigorous economic analysis, assessing and mitigating risks, and emphasising the strategic relevance of projects in terms of delivering optimal value for money. We take a client-centric and collaborative approach to integrate client goals and objectives into the business case development process.
Internal
Audit
We support our local government internal audit clients by undertaking focused reviews and providing recommendations on how best to improve internal control processes, corporate governance arrangements, and risk management procedures. The 2023 National Oversight and Audit Commission Internal Audit Report highlighted 15 key findings and 17 recommendations in respect of internal audit in the local authority sector, including the requirement to ensure that there is a system in place to confirm the independence and objectivity of their internal audit function on an annual basis. Our team can support clients in ensuring compliance with best practice and implementing relevant recommendations. For more information here.
Our services
Strategic and
Operational
Review
We work with our clients to identify strategic, operational, and cost efficiencies. We conduct detailed evaluations of current service provision, including value-for-money reviews, business process re-engineering, client/customer surveys, and efficiency analyses. We work with our clients’ senior teams to develop practical plans to change and improve how things are done, based upon many years of practical experience.
We have a successful history of delivering the following services to local authority clients:
Business
Cases
Workshop
Planning
and Facilitation
We provide support to our clients to optimise their workforces to ensure the achievement of their strategic objectives. In line with Departmental guidance on the development of strategic workforce plans, we work with local authorities to:
review client strategic priorities, including the changing environment and needs and the strategic ambition set out in their corporate plan;
identify high-level goals, strategic objectives, and key provisions in annual business plans;
assess changes in current workforce requirements, such as roles that are new, emerging, or have significantly changed;
undertake workforce capacity and capability gap analyses; and
formulate workforce plans to address current and future workforce gaps through recruitment and/or development of skills and experience within the current teams.
We help decision makers in the local government sector to allocate resources efficiently and make informed investment choices. Crowe has extensive experience in the analysis techniques used in economic appraisals including:
Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), which compares the total expected costs against the anticipated benefits to ascertain the net economic value;
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA), which evaluates the least costly way to achieve a specific objective; and
Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), which considers multiple factors and stakeholder preferences when assessing a project's impact.
Other methods, such as Economic Impact Analysis (EIA), are also employed to gauge broader socio-economic impacts and to ensure comprehensive evaluation.
