Savings Programme
Client Context
The London Boroughs of Newham and Havering sought to identify and deliver cashable savings while ensuring alignment with their wider strategic priorities, including digital transformation and service modernisation. With ambitious financial targets and an urgent need to reduce expenditure, the councils required a structured, evidence-based approach to realising savings without negatively impacting residents. Given the complexity of savings requirements across multiple service areas, the councils engaged Human Engine to provide targeted savings proposals, ensuring efficiencies were identified and delivered without duplication of existing initiatives.
Our Approach
The councils appointed us as their delivery partner to systematically identify and validate savings opportunities. Key elements of our approach included:
Detailed third-party spend analysis deep dive into procurement and contract spend to identify significant savings opportunities.
Undertaking benchmarking activities against statistical neighbours to identify areas of opportunity for exploration e.g. overspending or under-leveraging market efficiencies.
Engaging with service areas across both authorities to validate savings opportunities and ensure that these were realistic and deliverable.
Mapped savings opportunities across multiple service areas, focusing on areas where joint initiatives could maximise economies of scale and eliminate duplication.
Ensuring alignment with both authorities wider strategic priorities including digital transformation and service modernisation.
Outputs and Outcomes
Our work with Newham and Havering identified £3.75m in confirmed savings with a stretch target of £6.4m.
Specific outcomes included:
Savings including:
- £1m+ from Adults care and accommodation.
- £575k – £1.5m from grounds and cleansing.
- £690k – £1.25m from property/FM.
- £600k – £1.2m from IT rationalisation.
- £115k – £280k from unused software licences.
Additional savings from housing repairs, post-room transformation, and consultancy costs.
Delivered service-backed, actionable savings plans aligned to transformation objectives.
Developed a consolidated savings tracker, shared tools and aligned reporting to strengthen ongoing delivery.
Strengthened links between commercial, transformation, and finance strategies, building bridges between siloed teams.
Created new routines for opportunity tracking, contract reviews, and commercial pipeline planning.
About Us
Human Engine is a leading management consultancy with specialisms in strategy, transformation, digital, commercial, procurement and projects.
Founded in 2018, we have partnered with more than 50 local authorities, central government, NHS organisations and national charities to help transform their strategies, operations and cultures.
Our mission is to help individuals and organisations to do the best work of their lives. We do this by blending first-hand, practical experience of the problems we help our clients solve with award-winning consulting expertise and an approach based on trust, collaboration and partnership.