With Government Grants being cut, the need to make sure that running costs are as efficient as possible has never been more acute for Framework Housing Association.

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Left to right: Auditel Consultants Gillian Gibbon and Nigel Collins; Marie Spencer, John Millard and Sarah Oldershaw of Framework Housing Association

Framework Housing Association is based in Nottingham and has been running for ten years. Initially it benefitted from the incumbent Government’s funding policy for organisations that supported people trying to get their lives back together.

However, in the current economic climate and faced with serious funding cuts, Framework has to keep a very close watch on overheads in order to continue giving support to the estimated 10,000 people with drugs, mental health and alcohol-related problems that they deal with every year.

FD, John Millard says: “A lot of our cost management is done in-house, but some business cost areas are too complicated for us to deal with effectively.”

“We are inundated with calls from cost consultants who promise the earth and deliver little, so I usually tell them we’ve got it covered. But when Auditel Consultant Gillian Gibbon got in touch with us we were having a problem with our phone contracts that we couldn’t sort out ourselves, so we agreed to let her have a go at solving it.”

It soon became clear that with Auditel’s knowledge, experience and buying power, it was a good move.

John continues, ”I was very impressed with how quickly Gill and her colleague Nigel Collins grasped the complexities of our phone set up, despite it being spread across our organisation with a whole range of different tariffs and a wide range of different needs.”

“Being independent and using their industry knowledge and buying power, Auditel were able to talk to the suppliers on a completely different level and through their analysis, negotiation and hard work were able to secure significant savings.”

Savings that now amount to over £60,000.

In the light of this success, Auditel were also asked to examine Framework’s energy spend and their analysis and negotiations with electricity and gas suppliers produced even better results.

What started with a cold call in 2005, has so far turned into savings of over a quarter of a million pounds. Money that is much needed to ensure Framework can continue to support its clients.

Savings Breakdown:

Fixed Line Costs
Call Savings £42,769
Line rentals £19,616

Energy
Electricity £116,341
Gas £74,675
Gas Rebate £2,725

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With more than 40 years experience, they now have over 400 trained and experienced staff and operatives across four sites in Needham Market (Head Office), Huntingdon, Addington and Boston Lincolnshire, and are planning to open a fifth regional office near Bicester in Oxfordshire before Christmas.

Their close working relationships and alliances with suppliers and subcontractors alike enables them to offer value, technical support and innovative solutions.

The company also has an impressive track record when it comes to health and safety, receiving no less than 30 consecutive International Safety Awards as well as a coveted ROSPA Gold Award.

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Left to right: Paul Copsey, Auditel Consultant; Richard Cottee, Client Liaison & Pre-Contracts Director, J Breheny Contractors Ltd; and Stephen Heathcock, Auditel Consultant.

J Breheny Contractors were first approached by Auditel at the end of 2008 with a view to making sure that they weren’t paying over the odds for their utilities. Company Sectretary, Richard Sivyer introduced them to Steve Goddard, Head of Business Development and IT, who had taken over responsibility for Breheny’s landline and telecommunications contracts.

“I had my reservations about companies like Auditel, but was keen to see what they could do for us,” he remembers. “From the very first meeting I was very impressed by their proposition. They were personable, clearly very knowledgeable and, above all, willing to listen to our needs.

“I felt that the combination of Auditel’s no win, no fee approach and their complete supplier independence meant that they would be incentivised to find the best deals for us (and them).”

As a result, in May 2009, Auditel were engaged to review Breheny’s spend on landlines and mobiles and if possible find alternatives to the existing arrangements. First they tackled landlines and, although Breheny were tied into a 5 year deal with their current provider, were able to negotiate a reduction of 10% without the requirement to extend the contract.

They then analysed the spend on mobiles and, although still in contract in 2009, a review in June of 2010 resulted in Auditel more than halving their spend and delivering savings of 52% with a new supplier. Due to signal issues at their Addington and Needham Market site this also meant project managing the installation of signal boosters at both sites for which they managed to negotiate significant subsidies from the provider.

Steve Goddard is delighted with the outcome and has nothing but praise for Auditel.

“I would never have been able to achieve these savings without Auditel’s buying power and connections. They encouraged total transparency so I always knew exactly what was going on and, with their knowledge, I soon realised I could trust them completely to deliver.”

Savings Achieved:

Landlines – £4,174 10% Saving
Mobiles – £28,631 52% Saving

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Mediterranean Shipping Company (UK) Ltd, general agents for MSC, offers customers a comprehensive range of services from computerised booking and electronic data interchange to independent road and rail transportation services, agency supply chain management, cargo consolidating and warehousing.

In 2010 MSC were winners of the IFW Award for Container Line of the Year and boast AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) Customs and Excise certification.

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Left to right: Paul Copsey, Auditel Consultant; Peter Johnson, General Manager Intermodal; Stephen Heathcock, Auditel Consultant; and Lisa Barker, Property & Facilities Manager, MSC

Mediterranean Shipping Company (UK) Ltd, (MSC) has two office buildings in Ipswich, a warehouse, and container operations across the UK. Lisa Barker, who joined the company in 2009 as Property and Facilities Manager, was keen to make sure that their heating and lighting expenditure was as cost-effective as possible.

She explains, “I manage most of our facilities costs myself, but it was agreed that an independent energy expert could be useful in assisting us with the management of our electricity costs.”

“My previous experience of Auditel had been very positive and I knew them to be trustworthy, to do what they said they would do and to make my job easier. Their professionalism had really shone through over and above other cost management companies.”

So in March 2010, Auditel Consultants Paul Copsey and Stephen Heathcock were invited to review their electricity spend on a no-win, no-fee basis, to check for billing errors and other anomalies and to manage the electricity contract renewal.

Their analysis has paid dividends for MSC.

In the first year they were able to identify and deliver annual savings of 13% or £19,000 on the half hourly (HH) supply.

This year further renewals have led to savings of 21% or £3,800 on the non-HH supply and an additional 6% (£12,000 pa) on the renegotiated half hourly rate.

Lisa is very pleased, “Auditel does a great job, I particularly value Auditel’s unbiased approach. Their independence from energy suppliers and the fact that they work on a no-win, no-fee basis means we can rest assured that they are always working with our best interests at heart. We really had nothing to lose and a lot to gain from their involvement.”

Savings Achieved:

Electricity – £34,800
Year 1 (HH) – 13% £19,000
Year 2 (HH) – 6% £12,000
Non-HH – 21% £3,800
Water – 9% £390

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Famous for its classified adverts, The Lady remains the first port of call for anyone seeking domestic staff, with vacancies listed for nannies, butlers and governesses. The Prince of Wales and Queen Mother are believed to have used it, and the Duchess of York famously once advertised for a dresser.

The Lady is the oldest women’s weekly, and is thought to be the oldest magazine still owned by one family. It continues to operate out of a warren-like Victorian building on Bedford Street in Covent Garden, central London.

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Left to right: Colin Simmons, Auditel Consultant and Ben Budworth, Publisher and Chief Executive of The Lady Magazine

Ben Budworth took over as Publisher and Chief Executive of The Lady Magazine in 2008. The famous magazine, which since the sixties had been owned by his uncle, was very run down and in desperate need of modernisation.

Embarking on a crusade to revitalise this embattled brand, Ben turned The Lady, which had previously been a partnership, into a limited company, with his mother and siblings as shareholders.

He immediately halved the workforce, scrapped the outdated typesetting methods and set a goal of transitioning The Lady to be platform independent whether in newsagents, on the internet, on TV or on the radio.

There was a lot of dead wood to clear out and when the readership was researched, it was discovered that the average age was 78. There was no circulation plan and subscriptions and their associated offers were still being fulfilled in-house.

Ben remembers, “The Lady was stuck in a time warp, doing its best to ignore the digital age. The editorial was irrelevant. The magazine out of touch and out of place and archaic working practices were still being employed.”

Cost management was an important part of this planned transformation since supplier contracts which had been in place for many years hadn’t ever been reviewed, so when Auditel were recommended to him by his sales Director in 2010 he was keen to see what could be achieved.

Ben enthuses, “Over the last year Colin [Colin Simmons, Auditel Consultant] has proved to be a valuable resource for us. I was impressed that he didn’t simply switch to the lowest bidder, but found the supplier that best suited our needs. By outsourcing our cost and purchase management we have not only made savings, but also saved ourselves the time and cost of doing it in-house.”

Auditel have made welcome savings for The Lady in three main areas so far. Electricity costs have been lowered by 11%, credit card charges by over 17% and, most significantly, stationery and IT consumables by an impressive 20%.

Ben is genuinely enthusiastic about his experience with Auditel. “I have only met Colin and found him to be quiet, honest, open, discreet and transparent. I would recommend him to other businesses without hesitation.”

Savings Achieved:

Stationery & IT Consumables – 20.7% Saving
Credit Card Charges – 17.71% Saving
Electricity – 11% Saving

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Each year LOST present 9 plays directed by respected industry professionals open to anyone who is 27 years or under. There are two other groups that focus on people under 21 and under 16. LOST also runs three Festivals that encourage new writers and directors to stretch their talents.

Alongside all this there are classes and occasional question and answer sessions with well known actors.

Its Patrons are Sir Dereck Jacobi and Ralph Fiennes.

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Left to right: Mark Magill, LOST Youth Theatre Company Chief Executive and Auditel Consultant Neil Crook

Auditel was recommended to Mark Magill, Chief Executive of LOST, by fellow thespians, Questors Theatre Company who had benefitted from Auditel’s services in the past.

He contacted Auditel Head Office in Autumn 2009 and was soon explaining to Auditel Consultants Neil Crook and Mike Mackintosh how he had tried to contact a number of energy suppliers in an effort to reduce the theatre’s running costs, all to no avail.

Ruefully Mark remembers, “I naively thought I could go onto the internet and find a better deal, but it was a waste of time. The supplies weren’t even registered in some cases and when I did manage to get through to them on the phone, they just weren’t interested.

“It was a worrying time, because the utilities costs were as much as three times the amount we’d budgeted for. So it was such a relief when Neil and Mike took over.”
The complex that LOST had moved into was a new build and the developer had left Mark with quite a few headaches.

The contract to supply gas was registered to an incorrect address and tracking the supplier down proved complicated. However, once identified, Neil was able to negotiate a new contract saving the theatre 39%, backdated to December 2009.

The electricity supply was equally problematic. Not least because potential suppliers wouldn’t tender without a minimum of ten months historical data. Not easy in a new build!

Mark continues, “Through hard work, patience and an unparalleled diligence, Neil turned each of these bills to our favour. He worked incredibly hard for us and, thankfully, was able to reduce our utilities costs significantly.

“I can honestly say that if it hadn’t been for Auditel, we might not be here anymore.”

In fact Neil has not only reduced their electricity bill by 32%. He has also managed to have the theatre’s insurance cover increased for the same premium, negotiated improved tariffs for their phone and internet usage and helped sort out the water and waste disposal contracts.

He is currently working on optimising the return on the theatre’s solar panels, so that excess power produced by the roof panels can be ‘sold on’.

Mark adds, “This work would have been impossible for the staff at the theatre to have achieved. The contacts that Auditel have along with their combined knowledge meant they were not only able to obtain the best possible deal for us, but also ensure that our VAT & charity status were taken into account by the utility companies.”

Savings Achieved:

Gas – 39% Saving
Electricity – 32% Saving

Other Categories:
Improved insurance cover and
Telecoms tariff
Sorted out water supply
Currently optimising solar panel returns

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Antrobus has a combined total of 160 years of commercial accountancy experience and takes a pro-active approach towards moving clients’ businesses forward with a comprehensive range of accountancy services that includes advice on business growth and development and assisting clients with business strategies.

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Left to right: Denis Sprague, Auditel Consultant and Mike Kirby, Managing Director, Antrobus Accountants

Mike Kirby, Managing Director of Antrobus Accountants, was already aware of Auditel before being approached by Denis Sprague at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Petersfield in 2010.

Impressed by Auditel’s no-win, no-fee business costs health check, he felt Antrobus had nothing to lose by engaging Auditel.

“Although I felt that our costs were pretty well under control, I’m time poor as it is and didn’t really want to spend my time working out whether we were getting the best deal on utilities or stationery for example, when I could be working on expanding the business instead!”

Initially Mike engaged Denis to investigate Antrobus’ telecoms and photocopying costs. He had already done some homework on these himself, but was keen to see whether Auditel could improve on the quotes he had received.

“Denis took those quotes and treated them as the benchmark, determined to improve on them. And he has.”

On the fixed line telecoms, Denis managed to deliver a significant saving of 21% and, although at the time of writing the savings on the newly installed photocopiers haven’t yet been completed, he found a further 12% on stationery and IT consumables.

In addition to this, by negotiating new contracts for both electricity and gas he has achieved annual savings of 32% and 25% respectively, as well as a gas rebate of £1,073 he identified following a meter change, which had resulted in Antrobus being charged for gas that they hadn’t used! There then followed impressive savings of 32% on waste and recycling and a massive 67% on washroom services.

Mike Kirby comments, “We are, of course, delighted with the savings Auditel have made for us. We are also especially impressed with the way Denis follows up. In contrast to some cost management companies, Auditel doesn’t simply make cuts and walk away. Denis has followed up, checking every invoice with meticulous attention to detail, making sure that suppliers are delivering as promised. If I have any queries, I just pass them on to him in the knowledge that any anomalies will be sorted out quickly and efficiently.”

Further investigations are ongoing for Merchant Cards and Direct Debit, PABX and Water and Sewerage costs.

Savings Achieved:

Fixed Line Telecoms – 21% Saving
Stationery & IT Consumables – 12% Saving
Washroom Services – 67% Saving
Waste & Recycling – 32% Saving
Electricity – 32% Saving
Gas – 25% Saving
Plus Rebate of £1,073

Current Projects:
Merchant Cards & Direct Debit
PABX Support
Water & Sewerage
Photocopiers

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In 2010 St. Clare’s was ranked 1st in the Oxfordshire league tables for IB/A-Levels and 11th among English independent schools.

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Left to right: Nick Beaumont-Jones, Auditel Consultant; Lucy Blake, Financial Controller and Nick Paladina, Bursar, St Clare’s College

Based in 26 sites spread across North Oxford, St Clare’s College presents an interesting challenge when it comes to cost and purchase management.

Nick Paladina, Bursar at St Clare’s, received a cold call from Auditel Consultant, Nick Beaumont-Jones in Autumn 2009.

Having worked with cost consultants before, he was already aware of the potential benefits and Auditel’s contingency fee approach was particularly appealing.

“We got on well at our initial meeting and I was impressed by the range of services Auditel could offer – and, at worst, that it would cost us nothing.” Auditel was engaged in February 2010, initially to investigate the College’s spend on electricity, gas, water and fixed line communications.

“Our utilities, spread across 26 different locations in North Oxford, were a mess. We just didn’t have the time or the necessary expertise to sort them out. So it was a huge relief to hand it over to Nick [Auditel]. He handled everything with the minimum of disruption and I was impressed by the quick turnaround.”

He was even more impressed when Auditel delivered savings in the first year which totalled over £42,000. Of these, savings on electricity amounted to £31,250, including a rebate for past overcharges of £24,100. £6,400 on Gas from historical overcharges going back 3 years and equivalent to 9% of St Clare’s total gas spend and £4,200 (21%) on fixed line communications.

In addition to the successful management of St Clare’s costs in these areas, Auditel have provided significant levels of day to day management support in monitoring consumption levels, liaising with suppliers on metering problems, advising St Clare’s on the most appropriate charging structure, the resolution of gas supply anomalies, the provision and analysis of telephone billing data to enable the client to assess usage more effectively and arranging for new connections and disconnections on the client’s behalf as and when required.

Nick is delighted, “We see Nick as a very valuable resource for St Clare’s. We have come to rely on him and know that if he doesn’t know something, he doesn’t pretend he does, but instead turns to other Auditel specialists for help.”

Savings Achieved:

Electricity – 9% £31,250 Saving
(Includes overcharges rebate of £24,100)
Gas – £6,400 Saving
(Rebate for historical overcharges)
Fixed Line Telecomms – 21% £4,200 Saving

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They also have a New Product Development Team constantly developing new soft drinks concepts and flavours, and the production lines regularly make and bottle drinks for many major brands.

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Left to right: Derek Chisnall, Auditel Project Manager, Trevor Conway, Financial Controller
Silver Spring, Peter Lawrence and Jeremy Bailey, Auditel Specialists.

Silver Spring Mineral Water Company, a fourth generation, family run producer and manufacturer of soft drinks, went into administration in September 2009. At that time the business was bought out of administration by a new company, Silver Spring Soft Drinks, using private equity investment, and a new management team installed.

Auditel were initially engaged at the time of the purchase to ensure continuity of the electricity supply during negotiations and to establish an ongoing supply for the new Silver Spring. To quote Gary West, CEO: “Faced with an extremely precarious situation including threat of disconnection, a significant increase in security deposit and uncompetitive tariffs, Silver Spring were pleased to be able to call upon the expertise of Auditel to help our newly formed company negotiate a workable solution. Derek and his team worked with us to ensure a successful outcome and in the process re-wrote the rule book with a major energy provider in establishing a way forward”.

Encouraged by Auditel’s success and impressed by their level of detail and breadth of skills, Gary quickly realised that Auditel could offer a level of cost and purchase management over a much wider range of areas than his in-house procurement team had the time or the necessary skills to implement.

Due to the success of the electricity project Auditel were engaged to assess Silver Spring’s spend over a basket of 14 additional areas as well as electricity, dealing with them in an agreed order of priority, and augmenting the team with other Auditel specialists where necessary. A reward structure for Auditel’s work was negotiated comprising a fixed fee, a monthly retainer, a targeted success fee and a share of savings beyond that target. This ensures that Silver Spring benefits properly from Auditel’s flexible methods of charging larger companies based on commercial fairness.

The Auditel team quickly established its reputation throughout the Silver Spring management and procurement teams. Regular monthly review meetings are held with the Silver Spring management teams to ensure that projects continue to deliver real value. This has resulted in many business cost areas being added to the list to be reviewed and as a result Silver Spring has now given Auditel an open brief to identify all areas where savings might be found.

THE TOTAL COST OF PURCHASE® IN ACTION

Auditel’s attention to detail has already led to impressive results extending far beyond financial savings alone, for example, stationery and pallets, a major cost for Silver Spring.

In respect of pallets Auditel has:

• Identified a new supplier of superior pallets compatible with both production needs and the requirements of major customers of Silver Spring
• Conducted detailed contractual negotiations which involved structuring a deal with target driven price reductions
• Co-ordinated implementation which has delivered substantial ongoing monthly savings
• Hugely reduced administration time in the transport department at Silver Spring
• Achieved process time savings – now very few unusable pallets, previously there were over 30,000pa
• Continued to monitor monthly reports and invoices to achieve targeted price reductions
• Attended pallet supplier review meeting
• Carried out detailed analysis and major reconciliation of highly complicated supplier reports, as a result of which Auditel negotiated with the former pallet supplier for Silver Spring to receive a significant refund.

The recently implemented stationery project has generated impressive savings on price with the added bonus of an on-line ordering system. This has given Silver Spring full visibility and control of stationery ordering. As a direct consequence the number of stationery orders has dropped dramatically with no loss of productivity, creating additional savings.

THE TEAM APPROACH

With over 200 Auditel specialists covering the country Auditel can deliver its fully independent cost and purchase management services to clients in well over 100 business cost areas. Auditel’s huge range of skills and experience, supported by highly sophisticated bespoke tools and information resources which bring security and effectiveness to project management for large companies with multiple sites. To maximise the benefits for each client, specialists are brought in by the Auditel Project Manager as needs require. At Silver Spring those involved in the team so far are:
Derek Chisnall, Auditel Project Manager and negotiator
Peter Lawrence, Auditel Specialist
Jeremy Bailey, Auditel Specialist
Tony Sedden, Auditel Specialist
Ravi Wickramasuriya, Auditel Specialist
Business Rates – strategic partner
Insurance – strategic partner
and a number of other members of the Auditel network who have contributed their experience as needed.

INDEPENDENT STRATEGIC PARTNERS

Over the years Auditel has recognised that there are some specialist areas essential to all clients yet professional or statutory requirements mean suitably qualified external professionals have to carry out the work, for example insurance and business rates. Careful research and experience has enabled Auditel to develop strategic partners of the highest calibre and reputation to assist with clients’ needs in these areas. Thus, through these partners, Auditel ‘s engagement by Silver Spring has also already achieved great results:

• Business rates – a substantial refund and guaranteed future reductions
• Insurance – the 2011 renewal negotiated by our strategic partners has cost significantly less, whilst achieving both improved and additional cover in areas not previously insured.

AUDITEL OUTCOMES SO FAR

The engagement of Auditel by Silver Spring’s senior management has already led to cash savings of well over a quarter of a million pounds, provided significant savings of time, and simplified some processes for the Silver Spring team.

Gary West, CEO at Silver Spring, sums up: “In order to make Silver Spring profitable again, one of my key objectives was to ensure that the non-core business costs were streamlined to the business needs and kept under control. Auditel have not only made us more profitable, but have also become a sounding board and a valuable extension to our management and procurement teams.”

NEXT STEPS

• Continue to review the business cost areas listed and implement new savings
• Ongoing monitoring of implemented projects
• Electricity renewal
• Identify other areas where savings might be found
• Energy efficiency review and implementation
• CRC processes and implementation • ongoing monthly review meetings, contribution to planning processes and project management within internal cost engineering forum

Savings Achieved:

Initial savings on implementations in the first 10 months exceed £266,000 across the following areas:
Electricity, Mobiles, Landline calls, Pallets, Stationery, Business Rates, Insurance.

Initial savings are increasing substantially month by month in these areas and additional
savings will be realised as further projects are implemented.

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Left to right: Peter Harrison, Auditel Consultant; Debra Avery, Peepul Centre Operations Manager, John Frape, Peepul Centre Head of Services for Sports & Fitness; Mike Ramsden, Auditel Consultant.

Opened in 2005, the Peepul Centre takes a pragmatic approach to its business model, ensuring it continues to evolve and provide services that meet the needs of people in the local community. Like many organisations which receive funding through local and central government schemes, however, the Centre faces challenges ahead, which Operations Manager, Debra Avery, is determined to ensure they meet head on.

“The Peepul Centre may have registered charity status but we still have to make enough money to survive as a viable business. In the twelve months I’ve been in post we’ve not only seen the announcement of deep cuts in our direct public funding but the trickledown effect of these cuts on major users of our venue hire services, such as the NHS and local government, means our income has also been affected on that side of the business. As a result we’ve had to develop a much more strategic 3-5 year business plan aimed at securing our long-term financial sustainability.”

One of the things that Debra was keen to include in her strategic plan was a thorough review of the Centre’s overheads and service contracts so a meeting between Centre Manager, Bharat Patel, and Auditel consultants, Peter Harrison and Mike Ramsden, at one of the networking events hosted by the Centre in mid-2010 was very timely.

“I’d already done some research and knew it would be possible to secure better prices for many of our overheads and infrastructures and I’d had a look at some of the testimonials on Auditel’s website so there seemed to be a good match between my objectives and their expertise. My first impression of Mike and Peter was how professional they were and this hasn’t changed since. I’m always incredibly impressed by the information and recommendations they come up with and, just as importantly, the fact that within a relatively short period of time they have really come to understand our organisation and the issues that affect us specifically. From my point of view, because I’m so time-poor, their input has been invaluable because not only do they come back with a tremendous amount of information, but they present it clearly and make it simple for me to make decisions; they’ve just saved me a huge job that would have kept me away from other areas of the core business.”

So far, Peter and Mike have identified and implemented savings of over £77,477 across the Centre’s gas, electricity, contract cleaning, washroom services and fire and security systems costs. Other projects now underway include a review of catering and stationery costs.

“Mike and Peter did a fabulous job on their initial projects and saved us a lot of money, so going forward anything that has an overhead attached to it they will be looking at. Over the next couple of years our income and expenditure will change dramatically so any savings Auditel make will directly and significantly affect our bottom line.”

But there are other issues, beyond simple costcutting, about which Debra values Auditel’s expertise and assistance.

“As you can imagine with a centre our size, we have numerous service contracts many of which duplicate costs incurred elsewhere and that’s something I have been keen to address. What Auditel have done very successfully is get us out of some contracts that would have taken me and an expensive legal team to negotiate our way through, but they did it so professionally, I was incredibly impressed. Ultimately, I want to make very sure that the Centre isn’t being ripped off by suppliers and that we aren’t signed up to any contracts that don’t meet our needs, and working with Auditel means I can address both of these issues as an integral part of their
service.”

Savings Breakdown:

Gas, Electricity, Contract Cleaning
Washroom Services and Fire and Security Systems £77,477

Ongoing Additional Projects:

Catering Costs
Stationery Costs

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Left to right: Denis Brennan, Auditel Consultant and Kieran Dempsey, Christ College’s Bursar

In common with many such institutions, Christ College Brecon, faces the constant twin challenges of controlling overhead expenditure, whilst ensuring that it can still meet the requirements of its pupils and the expectations of their parents. At a time when it is especially difficult to raise revenues, this becomes an overriding necessity.

In October 2008, having identified the need to take a closer look at the school’s costs and impressed by Auditel’s free business health check, Christ College’s Bursar, Kieran Dempsey, invited Auditel consultant Denis Brennan to carry out a review of the school’s utilities expenditure and propose possible ways of lowering their costs.

“For a number of years, we have outsourced our utilities management. We’re not a very large school and don’t have the time, funds or personnel to dedicate to analysing overheads ourselves,” explains Kieran. “I had felt for a while that we could probably do better, so Auditel’s offer of a free business review was very timely – and too good to ignore!”

Concentrating on immediate opportunities for costreduction first, Denis quickly identified the chance to negotiate lower fixed-line telecoms costs, resulting in savings of £5,000 or 34%.

He then turned his attention to the school’s energy expenditure.

When he was engaged, their energy spend had still been in contract with suppliers who had been engaged by a broker previously employed by the college. But as the gas contract was approaching its end date, Denis began to analyse their expenditure. He soon discovered that a number of gas meters were being charged at out of contract rates, even though the remainder had been transferred into a fixed term, fixed price contract with another supplier. This gave him the opportunity to negotiate a revised fixed-price contract which saved the College a very significant £55,000, or 56% in the first full year. By constantly monitoring the contracts and markets, Denis continued to reduce the school’s overhead costs, saving a further 21% on the gas supply in the following year.

A number of small electricity supplies were also renegotiated producing a 16% saving in year one. These supplies, consolidated with a single supplier in year two, produced a further 16% saving.

Most recently, the College’s main electricity supply, in the fiercely competitive half-hourly market came up for renewal and a 5% saving was achieved.

Delighted by these initial Auditel successes, Kieran has now asked Denis to examine the school’s spend on office consumables and cleaning and janitorial supplies, with a view to reviewing other categories in due course.
Savings Achieved:

Landlines – 34% Saving
Gas Year 1 – 56% Saving
Year 2 – 21% Saving
Electricity Year 1 – 16% Saving
Year 2 16% Saving

Ongoing Additional Projects:

Office Consumables
Janitorial Supplies

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