Annual savings of £125,000 for Leicester College

Leicester College, with approximately 27,600 students, is one of the largest Further Education colleges in the UK. It provides education and training to 43% of Leicester’s 16-18 year olds.

 The College continues to be under constant financial pressure to achieve more with less, a characteristic of the Further Education sector. Despite successful exercises by David Grocock, Director of Finance and Information and his VFM team, the College lacked the resource, time and procurement expertise to adequately review all key costs within an acceptable time frame.

After an exploratory meeting with Expense Reduction Analysts in 2005 David engaged Expense Reduction Analysts John Loveless and Steve Parrott to carry out a cost management review on a shared savings basis. David said, “Investing up-front was not an option. This low risk approach compared favourably with investing heavily in value for money reviews which risked achieving an insufficient payback.” The Expense Reduction Analysts team, headed by John and Steve, were initially briefed to examine Office Supplies, Cleaning Supplies, Telecommunications and Postage. Impressive annual savings of £125,000 have been identified in these categories. Quality and day-to-day service levels; important to the College, have been maintained or improved. David summarised “John and Steve selected experts from Expense Reduction Analysts to carry out the projects.

They worked closely with key stakeholders across the College to understand the current situation and service and quality needs. Expense Reduction Analysts involved the College’s current suppliers as well as suppliers from Expense Reduction Analyst’s database that could meet our needs, to generate options for selection. For us, the use of Expense Reduction Analysts has enabled the College to achieve fast results on a risk free no win – no fee basis. I would recommend Expense Reduction Analysts to any organisation, particularly in education, that needs to lower its costs”.

In the next phase Expense Reduction Analysts confirmed, at no charge, that water costs were acceptable and savings were identified in food expenditure. Significant expenditures on waste, security, transport and bottled water stations are under investigation with insurance and some aspects of maintenance earmarked for future consideration”

 Leicester College Profile

With a reputation for excellence, Leicester College offers a broad range of subjects from four campuses and 200 community venues. Many of the courses offered reflect the current and future needs of industry and commerce. For example, Centre of Vocational Excellence status is held for Print Skills, Construction and Retail. The Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy curriculum area is a Wella Centre of Excellence. Leicester College is particularly proud of its services to business. Through its specialist commercial training arm, S4B, the College provides high quality training to employers (both locally and nationally), tailored to meet the specific needs of individual organisations. With an eye to the future, the College has embarked on a major £44 million project, due for completion in 2008, to rebuild much of its accommodation at its major sites. Considerable planning has gone into this and the result will transform the College by providing fit for purpose, state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities.