At South Essex Homes, we ask staff to ensure that VFM is at the heart of the service we provide.

VFM is a concept that has been around in local government for over 20 years. It is generally defined as the relationship between economy, efficiency and effectiveness, sometimes known as the 'value chain'.

Economy is the price paid for what goes into providing a service, for example, the annual cost of a Housing Officer. the rent per square metre of accommodation. Economy is also about minimising the cost of an activity - ’doing things at a low price'.

Efficiency is a measure of productivity - how much you get out in relation to what is put in. For example, the efficiency of services such as rent collection may be measured by the cost of the service compared to the rent roll. Efficiency is primarily associated with process and delivery i.e. -'doing things the right way'.

Effectiveness is a measure of the impact achieved and can be quantative or qualitative. For example increasing the number of homes that South Essex Homes has available to let by reducing the time taken to renovate empty properties and therefore reducing rent loss (quantitative) and satisfaction levels amongst residents (qualitative).

Effectiveness is primarily associated with the outcomes for customers, I.e the extent to which objectives are met. 'doing the right things'

At South Essex Homes we continually strive to achieve VFM.  For example in our first full year we made savings of £628,000 which was captured in the VFM register. It is important we keep this register up to date and show we are focused on VFM savings.