Whatever area of the public sector you work in, it is clear that budgets are under unprecedented pressure. As a result of a long list of factors – Covid-19, inflation and, perhaps more contentiously, Brexit – public sector spend in areas ranging from higher education, to local and central government continues to be hit very hard.
Local councils, for example, have been forced to freeze flagship “levelling-up” projects; public-sector pay has dropped 4.3% in real terms in recent years; and government borrowing has soared to a 30-year high1 amid moves to balance the books. In such a highpressure economic environment, public sector bodies across the spectrum are re-doubling their efforts to scrutinise every penny of spend to ensure high-quality frontline public services survive. If that wasn’t enough, the public sector must also play its part by reducing carbon emissions as the climate crisis hits home.