Local authority and other public sector body fleets are gearing up for possible budget cuts of up to 25% when the coalition Government announces the results of its spending review on October 20.
The review will lay out the Government’s spending plans for the period of the next parliament, potentially up to 2014/15.
Any cuts will come on top of savings achieved at the start of the year when many public sector bodies were already budgeting to reduce costs.
One fleet manager told Fleet News: “Last year we started budgeting for realistic savings of 15% but we also had a worse case scenario of 20%.
“We didn’t expect to need the 20% budget, but we are already working to it. Any further cuts will have a huge impact.”
A number of public sector organisations have already reduced their fleet size, although they claim the savings are not great. According to the Fleet200, 80% of local authorities and 45% of bluelight fleets expect their fleet size to fall over the next year.
However, Leicestershire Constabulary transport manager Ray Adkins warned that savings might not be significant. “We reduced our fleet by 40 vehicles which were poorly utilised but the savings weren’t great because 75% of the cost is staff,” he told a Fleet News public sector roundtable.
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Bauer B2B group editor Stephen Briers has been an automotive business journalist since 1995. He has been editor of Fleet News since 2009 and before that was editor of Automotive Management for almost seven years. He now oversees both brands, as well as RAIL magazine.
adamrollins - 06/09/2010 14:17
If public sector fleets are being asked to make savings then the first area to look at would have to be mileage management. Mileage capture systems provide considerable efficiency gains that will cover a significant proportion, if not the entire requirement for savings, certainly in the private vehicle sector. Mileage management empowers the fleet; to utilise fuel cards for private car drivers, allocating mileage to business and private usage, to maximise its mileage efficiency through accurate journey records and to track the efficiency of individual drivers against manufacturers' published mpg figures. So by implementing systems that are increasingly being seen as standard fleet practice anyway, savings need not necessarily lead to cutbacks. Adam ROllins. Business Development Manager. MIDAS FMS. www.midas-fms.com