value for money & commercial thinking

A full-day practical workshop for managers who need to make the case for spend and demonstrate value for money with public funds.

Working through realistic scenarios and your own decisions to build clearer, evidence-based judgement about cost, value and trade-offs.

    • Understand what ‘value’ means in the context of public service delivery

    • Recognise how different choices affect cost, quality, risk and outcomes

    • Approach decisions with a clearer view of trade-offs and priorities

    • Use simple ways of assessing options and focusing effort

    • Spot opportunities to use time, budget and capability more effectively

    • Consider cost and value across the full lifecycle of a decision, not just the immediate spend

    • Engage more confidently in discussions involving cost, value and impact

  • 09:30 – 09:45
    Introduction and context
    What commercial thinking means in public sector work

    09:45 – 10:30
    Understanding value
    Cost, quality, risk and outcomes, using Green Book principles and SMART success factors

    10:30 – 11:15
    Making choices and trade-offs
    Balancing priorities and constraints using simple option appraisal tools

    11:15 – 11:30
    Break

    11:30 – 12:15
    Using resources effectively
    Time, budget and capability, mapping where value is created, lost and recovered using a Value Canvas

    12:15 – 12:45
    Applying commercial thinking in practice
    Working through realistic scenarios to make evidence-based trade-offs under pressure

    12:45 – 13:30
    Lunch

    13:30 – 14:15
    Value management and portfolio optimisation
    Getting more value from the same time, budget and resources across a portfolio of work

    14:15 – 15:00
    Lifecycle thinking
    Considering cost across the full lifecycle of a decision, not just the immediate spend

    15:00 – 15:15
    Break

    15:15 – 16:00
    Applying it to your own decisions
    Working through a live cost, value or spend decision from your own role

    16:00 – 16:30
    Commitments and close
    Agreeing what you will do differently from tomorrow, and how it connects to the shared standards set at pathway kickoff.

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