Helping Sir Philip's crusade

Sir Philip Green’s Efficiency Review singles out the government’s wasteful approach to car hire, which accounts for £29m of central government spend annually. We know the equivalent bills for local council car hire are significant and that they can be avoided by a more prudent approach to travel budgeting.

One reason the spending is so high is due to inadequate or inefficient fleet provision. Getting rid of fleet vehicles in favour of private or hire cars can look good on paper but it is a false economy in the long-term. Pooling fleet vehicles, for example, can avoid the need for hire cars altogether.

Another solution we are exploring more and more with the public sector is fully managed, outsourced fleets. For private sector fleets in excess of 250 vehicles, it’s estimated 60% are using outsourcing but this is much lower for similar sized public sector organisations, somewhere near 25%. Businesses have made substantial savings in recent years by outsourcing their fleet management to specialist providers and the public sector can learn from this experience.

There are examples of public sector organisations, like Ashford Council, that have reaped significant benefits from outsourcing their fleets, including significant financial savings, reducing emissions and improving employee health & safety. It’s time more government bodies followed suit and planned their vehicle needs for the long-term.