Managing the gap between income and expenditure
If you have a gap between income and expenditure, while at the same time worrying about large increases for customers, then your challenges may be more about service management, than service charges.
Too many organisations have:
Poor budget controls
A lack of clarity around responsibility and accountability for budgets
A lack of ownership of contracts
A lack of contract management tools (regular meetings, performance measures, etc.)
Uncontracted costs
Little to no relationship with the customer about services
No information about regularity or scope of services received
No input from customers on whether that regularity and scope is representative of the work required
This list of red flags could go on and on...
Service Charges are a byproduct of the services provided. If you get those services right, have clear responsibilities and financial management of them and you can be transparent with your customers both as you develop the service offer and after, then many of the challenges around the gap between income and expenditure will disappear. Where increases are required, customers will have the information available to understand why, and in a lot of cases, well-managed services and cost controls will reduce spend.
Proactively managing your services and your customers' experience of them is FAR easier than reactively dealing with the failure and frustration it generates.
