FEATURE FOCUS: FINANCE
Saving money on your tail spend I
n our first look this month at school finances, Sam Tse, Assistant Category Manager, explains how a new solution from Crown Commercial Service can help the education sector save money on their tail spend, and make ethical and sustainable procurement choices.
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is the biggest public procurement organisation in the UK. In January we launched a new tool for quicker and easier purchasing of low value products, with the aim of saving schools, colleges, universities and other public sector organisations millions of pounds each year.
In the first few months of the launch of the Tail Spend Solution framework, four customers in the education sector have called off this framework and another thirty customers are currently engaged with the framework team. However, this agreement is intended to grow based on customer usage and we anticipate a large amount of customer uptake in the coming months.
What is tail spend and what are the problems associated with it?
There is wide agreement across the public sector that tail spend is an under-managed and often overlooked area of spend that is increasingly important for organisations to deal with. It’s estimated that public sector tail spend on goods is currently in excess of £4bn per year. Tail spend is often invisible until purchases
appear in an organisation’s end of year accounts, and can cause significant budget pressures if not controlled properly.
CCS’s Tail Spend Solution will allow public and third sector customers to bring this spend under control. This is the first time a centralised tail spend solution has been made available to the whole UK public and third sectors.
‘
Tail Spend Solution will help the education sector to get the best deal on the procurement of millions of
low value products
The solution was developed after extensive engagement with CCS’s public and third sector customers and the supply market. It aims to support public sector buyers to spend less time and money on invoicing, increase visibility and control of ‘hidden’ spend, and improve their spend data.
Unmanaged tail spend - the solution for schools
Schools are currently facing a range of cost increases, including rises in teacher and support staff pay, as well as in food and energy prices. At CCS we understand the powerful impact procurement can make on a school or academy. But we also know that not every school or college has a procurement expert on hand and there isn’t
26
www.education-today.co.uk
always time to hunt down exactly the right product and get a range of quotes for your requirement.
Our Tail Spend Solution allows spending decisions to be undertaken quickly and easily whilst meeting all legal procurement obligations and also helping you to achieve your sustainability targets.
This agreement will give your organisation the ability to control your tail spend by providing you with an end-to-end management service. As part of the buying platform, you can decide what level of access and approval a buyer in your organisation has. You have the option to set permissions and organise your user accounts by, for example, vendor, category or product and through personalised approval levels.
‘
Tail Spend Solution can save schools, colleges and other public sector organisations millions of pounds each year
Whilst most of us want to shop sustainably it is often factors such as price, service and availability that take priority, which is why we’ve ensured that suppliers awarded contracts under this framework have had to meet official sustainability standards, in line with Government Buying Standards, complementing the government’s aim of achieving net zero by 2050.
November 2022
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
