'No better time than now' for DOGE team to visit West Northamptonshire, says chief executive

The party’s recently appointed efficiency chief, Zia Yusuf, met with senior members of the authority last Friday (June 13) to start the initial dialogue about the savings project. The team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors are looking to find waste and inefficiencies within all Reform UK-led councils and issue a full report to their leadership teams.

WNC Leader Mark Arnull confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the meeting with Mr Yusuf was preliminary and that no DOGE work has started as of yet in West Northants. The national team began their efforts in Kent County Council, but announced shortly after that they would be auditing WNC next.

The party has previously stated that the DOGE unit will scrutinise local government spending using artificial intelligence, data analysis tools and forensic auditing techniques. It has also added that all work will be carried out at no cost to the public purse.

Cllr Arnull said: “It’s about innovative and creative ways of using resources that otherwise aren’t available to councils.

“We’re not for a moment forgetting that a huge amount of work has been done in this authority in the last four years in terms of its own efficiency drive and the work that’s been continuously happening on a day to day basis.

“Ultimately, the goal is shared. Why wouldn’t anyone want to introduce savings to the public sector if they could out of innovation and creativity?

“The key bit to note is they’ve been very clear about how the data is managed and nothing leaves the building.”

Beginning budget planning for next year

West Northamptonshire chief executive Anna Earnshaw said that legal arrangements were discussed at the initial meeting, but that conversations are still ongoing. A date for when the process will start and how long it could take has still not been confirmed.

Ms Earnshaw added: “I think the key here is it’s in all of our benefit to do it in a timely way because we start our budget planning for next year in the next week or so because it’s a more and more challenging environment.

“From all of our point of view there’s no better time than now to do this piece of work because actually if we do it and if we find further efficiencies from accessing expertise, that we might not have otherwise had access to, then that can only be beneficial in that [budget setting] process.”

The authority has set a balanced budget each year since its inception in 2021 and undertakes an efficiency review to find its own savings. According to papers going to the WNC cabinet next week, the 2024/25 budget finished with a small £0.4 million underspend, after combatting the combined £18 million deficit across children’s and adult social care services.

No indication was given on how much the DOGE project is expected to save for the authority, but Cllr Arnull said that it would be “diverted back and be used for the benefit of the residents”. He did not comment on whether it could go towards council tax cuts for 2026/27 and said WNC would have to look at the local authority spending power that comes from central government first.

Earlier this week, on a visit to North Northamptonshire Council (NNC), Reform UK chair Nigel Farage warned that the DOGE reviews in the county could find “fewer egregious cases of spending” due to the age of the authorities.

“We’re certainly going to find savings in the old counties where one council has run it for years,” he said. “Things in this county are a bit different. They started again with a blank sheet of paper.

“I think we’ll find less bad stuff than we’ll find elsewhere, but we’ll still find efficiencies, I believe.”