With continued pressure on local authorities to drive back costs and improve service delivery, it comes as no surprise that a recent report shows shared services and outsourcing are still high on the agenda to help them survive.

Top findings according to the senior managers risk report produced by Zurich Municipal for a recent SOLACE 'summit' meeting of local government chief executives in Liverpool include:

- Plans for progressive and transformative change are far more evident amongst local authorities in 2014 than in 2013

- UK seeing more innovation in local government than any time since the rebuilding of public services post World War II

- Commercialism high on councils’ agendas – finding new ways to turn capital into revenue

- Outsourcing grown in importance

- Smaller councils focused on shared services, larger councils can use economies of scale to benefit from extensive outsourcing

Local Council staff cuts and further outsourcing predicted