It is joint work between Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling Councils to explore options for how some services might be delivered together. The aim is to make services more efficient, resilient and financially sustainable, protect services, share expertise and make the best use of public resources.

Clackmannanshire and Falkirk Councils agreed last year (February 2025) to work together to explore potential opportunities for collaboration. Stirling Council did not participate in this discovery phase.  

On February 26, this year, Stirling Council agreed to join Clackmannanshire and Falkirk in exploring opportunities for more collaborative service delivery across the Forth Valley area, including integrated or shared models where these are appropriate. 

Like all Councils,  Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling have financial challenges and are working to improve their financial sustainability.  Joint working with other partners can help protect jobs by saving money behind the scenes rather than impacting services at the front line. 

A joint discovery project was undertaken by Clackmannanshire and Falkirk Councils, supported by PwC in 2025. From this, partner Councils prioritised 16 service areas based on a range of criteria, called Tranche 1 - Proof of Concept. Five of these as noted below have now commenced as projects and are moving into a detailed design and development phase, including preparing business cases for each option.  A further three have begun exploratory work prior to a decision being taken on whether these develop into business cases.  These are Housing, Roads, and Estate Management which are all large complex services.

Further project areas will be added as this work progresses.  

Tranche 1 refers to the initial functions which were selected for a ‘proof of concept’. These will be reported back to Members as the project work for these progresses. Tranche 1 includes: 

• Support for Additional Support Needs (ASN) services 
• Internal Audit and Fraud 
• Revenues and Benefits services 
• Housing Services 
• Roads 
• Estates Management 
• Joint procurement and contracting of IT for Education 
• Social care front door and contact centre - exploring shared access, case management and financial assessments 
• Joint foster care arrangements 
• Storage and maintenance of equipment (e.g. JLES/equipment for children, adults, older people and education) 
• Asset Strategy (shared approach with Forth Valley partners) 
• Resilience and Emergency Planning 
• Regulatory Services (Trading Standards, Building Standards, Environmental Health) 
• Economic Development 
• Employability 
• Corporate Procurement 
• HR and Payroll Services 

These projects will help test whether shared or integrated approaches could improve services and deliver value for money. 

Currently, there are five workstreams that have been identified for a design and development phase. In addition there is a Governance workstream, which will consider the democratic, structural and legal issues which overarch all work. The workstreams are 

• Revenue and Benefits 
• Internal Audit and Fraud 
• Resilience and Emergency Planning 
• Corporate Procurement 
• Procurement for IT in Education 
• Governance 

Meanwhile, three further areas will undergo more exploratory work, due to their size and the fact they are more complex areas of service delivery: 

• Housing 
• Roads 
• Estates Management 

For Roads and Estates, Clackmannanshire and Stirling are undertaking transitional work which will inform the wider Forth Valley project. 

All the work includes further consideration of the financial, employee, system and process implications, and development of detailed business cases, assessing risks and benefits, and identifying potential operating models.  A Joint Staff Forum has also been established to ensure ongoing engagement with Trade Unions. 

PwC supported the initial Discovery Phase of this work to identify where collaboration might make sense. That work is complete. The next phase is being led  by council officers with other support as required. 

PwC assessed the savings at a very high level.  All functions selected have the potential to offer a good return of savings for any investment required to make changes.  Further work on this will be done at the next phase, to fully determine accurate savings.  

At this stage, it is about exploring and designing options, not implementing them. Whilst sharing or integrating services is being considered, this will only be known once this next phase of work is done.  

The programme is led jointly by the Chief Executives of Falkirk and Clackmannanshire Councils, supported by senior officers.  If approved by Members to move to the next phase, each area of work will have a project lead and employees from relevant services will be involved in the design and planning.

PwC supported the initial Discovery Phase of this work to identify where collaboration might make sense. That work is complete. The next phase will be led by council officers with other support as required.

It’s too early to confirm other partners. The Chief Executives of all three Councils will discuss the opportunities of this work with colleagues in other Councils, to seek willing partners who wish to join this work as it progresses.  

At this stage, it is about exploring and designing options, not implementing them. The work must be developed carefully and transparently, with clear evidence, and with local democracy and a commitment to continuing to deliver high quality public services at the heart of our decisions.

It must be stressed that no decisions are being taken at this current stage to change how services are delivered.  

A Transformation through Collaboration Board has been established to oversee and co-ordinate the work to deliver transformation through partnership working. The Board meets every four weeks and is co-chaired by the Chief Executives of Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling Councils, with Directors and senior officers from all three councils in attendance. 

Yes, staff knowledge is vital and staff from the relevant services will be involved in the exploratory, design and planning work. 

The Transformation through Collaboration programme is supported by Scottish Government Invest to Save funding which enables councils to explore innovative ways of working together to address financial pressures while protecting frontline services. There is £2m available from the fund that will pay for design work, additional project capacity, and external support where needed. It is not a loan and does not come from service budgets. 

There are no job losses being proposed at this stage. This work is about long-term sustainability and smarter delivery. If any structural changes are proposed in the next phase, full consultation and proper HR processes will take place first. Joint working with other partners can help protect jobs by saving money behind the scenes rather that impacting services at the front line. 

If you work in one of the areas listed, it is still too early to say what impact any change may have. All changes will be subject to us preparing detailed business cases.  

Communication and engagement will be ongoing with employees and Trade Unions including: 

• A Joint Staff Forum 
• Regular staff updates, discussion sessions, and team briefings 
• FAQs to ensure consistent messages 
• Trade Union engagement throughout 

Opportunities for employees in relevant services to get involved in workshops and design and development work. 

The design and development phase will run throughout 2026. Detailed workplans will be developed with appropriate timelines. All three Councils wish to progress this work at pace. 

No final decisions have been taken, and detailed proposals will come back to Council before any decisions are made. No service changes will happen without that approval. 

If proposals impact on our front-line service delivery, normal community engagement and consultation mechanisms will be put in place. This will also be used to inform any Equality Impact Assessments if these are required. 

The next phase of work is looking at how we deliver services. This could result in services being delivered jointly, but local needs remain a priority. 

Yes, the three Councils are aligned in terms of timescale for reports, meetings, briefings, and communications.  

Each Council will continue with its own transformation programme, and other saving options will require to be identified. 

If you have any questions, speak to your line manager in the first instance or via the dedicated email collaboration@falkirk.gov.uk