How procurement can drive stronger local services and communities

In the UK’s local government sector, every penny is vital. Across the country, costs have spiralled, particularly in areas such as adult social care, special educational needs provision and temporary accommodation, while funding was 18 per cent lower per person in 2024-25 than it was in 2010-11, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

 

Against this backdrop, it’s essential that councils and other local authorities operate as efficiently as possible. While those tasked with purchasing services are often at the mercy of external factors such as rising inflation or energy costs, there is one area where procurement teams can deliver additional value and online procurement services like Amazon Business are helping local government organisations to tackle such spend.

 

Councils spend large amounts of money on items that are essential to the overall running of the organisation, but which do not directly impact communities or local people. Examples include office furniture such as desks, chairs or tables, office supplies such as stationery or pictures, cleaning or janitorial products, IT equipment such as laptops, PCs or printers, or crockery and cutlery.

 

Often, such items are purchased as and when required, usually by office managers or those who happen to most need the product such as IT managers. Where there are procurement teams, their time is often taken up negotiating larger contracts, and it can be all too easy to ignore seemingly less significant spend, particularly when procurement teams themselves are under pressure in terms of resources.

 

But this can cause issues when it comes to managing costs, and it’s all too easy for a culture to creep in of people purchasing what they want when they want it, without any pre-agreed policies or limits. Buying items on an ad hoc basis can also lead to people heading to the local shop, failing to conduct any kind of price review.

 

There are other problems, too. Purchasing in this way means procurement teams or managers don’t have visibility into what they are buying, making it impossible to conduct any kind of review into whether such items are necessary, or if there are better ways of buying them. Accounts teams, too, struggle to reconcile purchases, particularly if they have been bought using an employee’s own money which is then claimed back through expenses.

 

Online procurement services are enabling local government organisations to manage their spending more effectively. For example, Amazon Business allows councils and other entities to authorise employees to make purchases directly in certain pre-agreed categories and budgets. This gives them access to thousands of items which can all be delivered quickly, using Amazon’s network.

 

It also provides the spend data required for procurement teams or managers to make more strategic decisions about what to buy and when, and for accounts teams looking to reconcile transactions.

 

It even allows local government organisations to channel spend towards particular suppliers that might fit in with wider corporate and social responsibility aims – those that can demonstrate sustainability credentials, for example, or small businesses from the local area.

 

As well as saving money and improving internal efficiencies, the use of online platforms can have a direct impact on frontline services. A social care worker, for instance, can spend two minutes ordering the notepads she requires to do her job, using the Amazon environment she’s already familiar with. She knows this will arrive tomorrow, in time for her shift the following day.

 

Previously this would have taken her 20 minutes to identify a suitable supplier and assess delivery timeframes or required a trip into town. She would then have had to go through a lengthy process to claim the money back from her employer through the expenses system. As she doesn’t have to do this, sh

e’s able to spend longer with her clients in the local community, and can still arrive home on time after her shift. 

It’s a scenario that can be replicated across job roles: the IT manager who needs to purchase laptops for new joiners; the office manager who requires stationery; the facilities manager who needs to buy cleaning products.

By taking steps to get non-core spend under control, procurement teams – or those tasked with buying items – can do their bit to free up money that can then be channelled back into public services.

 

This means more community care workers to help keep elderly people at home for longer, more children who can receive the education they deserve and more efficient local services and facilities. It all helps councils and other local government bodies in their quest to balance the books as well as delivering better value and stronger services for the taxpayer.

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To find out more about how Amazon Business could help your local government organisation control spend and drive stronger local services, visit business.amazon.co.uk/en/work-with-us/government