Confirmed impacts: Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of grant spending

This impacts case study shows how our review of the use of grants to provide funding was a major catalyst in Cabinet Office's review of the appropriateness and efficiency of grant funding, and its plans to develop a digital mechanism for improving grant processing. It is one example of financial or non-financial benefits realised in 2014 as a result of our involvement, all of which are set out in our interactive PDF.

Impacts case study

Grants are a huge area of government spend, and the Cabinet Office established the Grants Efficiency Programme to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of using this funding mechanism. We published our work on grants management in 2014 and worked very closely with the Cabinet Office, sharing examples of our data analysis and our emerging findings.

What are impacts?

Partly because of our focus and collaborative approach, the Cabinet Office adjusted their programme to consider the appropriateness of grants as a funding mechanism as well as the efficiency of grant processing. The Cabinet Office also plans to design a technology solution to improve the efficiency of processing certain types of grant and to collate management information. Our findings and recommendations were heavily referenced in the business case for this development.

Publication details:

Published date: October 15, 2015

National Audit Office report: Confirmed impacts: Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of grant spending