1.27 To date only eight of the 54 authorities who said they can use benchmarking to assess the value for money of the services they receive, have made use of it. This is because it is often a requirement that contracts should run for a number of years before benchmarking is used. Some found benchmarking difficult to use. Either few comparable services existed or it was not easy to find robust comparative data. Authorities need to consider how they can find comparative data when planning to include benchmarking as a value for money mechanism in contracts.
1.28 Benchmarking can be useful in setting prices for new services where contracts include pricing systems for the provision of new services. Each side needs to understand such systems and agree on how they will be interpreted.