Smart moves Tapping into growth in public transport Talking Points

Transcription

1 Smart moves Talking Points Tapping into growth in public transport

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3 Contents Foreword 1 Introduction 2 Why smart ticketing? 3 Who benefits from smart ticketing and how? 4 Why we travel the way we travel 7 Increasing ridership on public transport 8 Behavioural trends in ticketing 10 The use of smart ticketing across the country 11 Mobile ticketing makes an entrance 13 Influencing customers to use smart ticketing 14 Enhancing the public transport service offering 15 Further expanding the operating model 16 Conclusions 18 About the survey 19 About PwC 19 Contacts 19

4 Foreword With a growing population and economy, demand on the UK s transport network is continuing to rise. The challenge for government is to ensure that transport is an enabler for this continued growth. New infrastructure clearly needs to be one component in responding to this challenge. But getting more out of the existing infrastructure has potential in a shorter timeframe. In public transport, that includes finding ways of getting more people to choose the bus or train as their mode of travel. But tighter subsidies along with rising costs mean that operators are increasingly being challenged to incentivise customers in different ways to make the most of the UK s networks and increase ridership. For transport, usage is now equal to, if not more important than, provision. Against this backdrop, PwC s 2014 annual ticketing survey comes at a critical time for the sector. There have been some significant changes in the year since our last review of customers public transport preferences. Buses in London went cash free and Transport for London introduced contactless bank card payments. The necessity to purchase and hold a paper ticket is becoming less relevant. As a consequence, travel by public transport is becoming more convenient. Coinciding with the introduction of contactless cards into the public transport arena, PwC commissioned its third annual survey of public transport ticketing in the UK. Results continue to be encouraging for advocates of smart Figure 1: The changing face of a ticket ticketing. There is growing evidence of greater use of anything other than conventional paper tickets, and improving convenience and service perception, thereby supporting increased usage. One notable finding this year is that customers future preferences are showing signs of moving away from dedicated transport cards to mobile devices or bank cards. The appetite for a transport smart card seems to have peaked, with other forms of smart finding favour. While smart is moving in the right direction there is still some way to go; government and operators are going to need to do more to encourage customers to switch to new ways of ticketing and hence to realise the significant benefits they offer. The expectations of public transport customers are changing as well. They are receiving products and services through new channels, convenience through self-service is now the default, transaction times are coming down, and on-demand services are the new norms of modern living. Smart Contactless Mobile device Paper ticket Print at home Smart card 1

5 Introduction In September 2014, we asked Opinium Research to conduct a new poll of over 2,000 members of the public across the UK to understand if perceptions of current and future public transport ticketing options, as well as drivers and barriers to their adoption, were continuing to change. This poll asked the public the same questions as our 2013 poll. The evidence suggests a growing customer demand for smart forms of ticketing. This is important because it shows that passengers are seeing the value of smart over conventional ticketing and there is a growing segment of users ready to adopt new technologies. For the first time, our research demonstrates that a new wave of smart ticketing has arrived. Over half (58%) of those surveyed said they wanted to use something other than a paper ticket. The biggest increases from last year s survey are for those wanting to use a mobile device (up from 3% to 6%) and those with a preference for printing a ticket at home (up from 5% to 10%). However, despite technological advances, the public transport sector has yet to fully embrace the potential of these new technologies and there is significant difference between London and the rest of the UK in adoption rates of smart card and mobile device technology for ticketing. There is clearly more that government and transport operators can do to enable smart technology and integrated ticketing. Indeed, change is necessary if public transport is to set out a more compelling offer to entice more people from their cars. Developing a sound and compelling customer proposition is at the heart of this change, and smart ticketing in its various guises provides a key component of such an offer. This Talking Points picks up where we left off last year and builds on the conversation we began around how the transport sector might maximise the opportunity being offered by smart ticketing. What do we mean by smart ticketing? Smart ticketing is an alternative to the traditional paper or cardboard ticket. It includes: use of contactless debit and credit cards to access services, smart cards dedicated to travel applications, the use of mobile devices enabled to purchase and display a ticket, and to gain access to public transport service. Mobile device Contactless Smart Smart card 2

6 Why smart ticketing? Smart ticketing offers potential benefits for customers and operators. It provides convenience to customers, supports improved efficiency for operators and provides a data source that can be used to improve both services and specific customer offers. The greatest benefits can be derived when it becomes ubiquitous, which may still be some years away. Customers are already benefiting from reduced transaction and queue times as a result of smart ticketing. This in turn is allowing operators to run services more efficiently shorter boarding times mean reduced overall journey times. The data captured from the transaction is providing insight into individual travel patterns and is giving operators the potential to tailor their service for discrete groups of customers, thus increasing ridership and improving service utilisation. Customers are benefiting from new service offerings too one more journey offers customers using London s bus network the chance to take one more trip when they don t have the available balance left on their card to pay for their journey. And the automation of customer service processes is enabling some passengers to claim automated compensation through their mobile device when their train is delayed. But the opportunities for getting more out of our transport system as a whole remain. Smart ticketing has the potential to offer more varied pricing and reward models that incentivise customers to travel in a different way, increasing ridership or easing capacity strains. Through use of a smart mobile device, information, payment and access can all be located in the same place, which makes it an exciting time for designing a product that guides customers down a particular path incentivising them to choose the right mode of transport that makes their journey and the network run more efficiently, through better information provision, taking payment and allowing access. Figure 2: The personal mobile device enabling a seamless end-to-end customer journey With smart ticketing more pervasive, passengers would no longer need to work their way through complex fare structures to make sure they are getting the best price for a journey at a ticket booth or machine. Smart ticketing can support a guarantee that customers always receive the best price over a given period of time. i Information Payment Access 3

7 Who benefits from smart ticketing and how? Figure 3: Who benefits from smart ticketing? Network operators Mobile device operators Customers Transport operators Customers Government Card service providers Smart ticketing has the potential to make it quicker and simpler to buy and use tickets. On its own that is a major benefit, but as our research highlights it is not enough for a significant behavioural change without other incentives. This is important because it is only when a significant proportion of passengers have switched that the full benefits of smart ticketing really kick in. So smart ticketing will most likely need to be linked to offering passengers material benefit for example, guaranteeing best prices for journeys or offering more flexible season tickets. Other possibilities include automatically paying out refunds for qualifying delays. 4

8 Transport operators For public transport operators, the immediate advantage in moving to smart is in the potential to reduce costs fewer ticket printing machines and fewer mechanical breakdowns of ticket readers, for example. Later, savings will also come from completely eliminating some of the older style ticket formats. Big benefits also come from the insight that smart ticketing can give operators into their passengers travel patterns. Smart ticketing facilitates the adoption of new pricing mechanisms such as shoulder pricing where there is a mid-price between peak and off-peak travel periods to better cope with demand. Network operators For network operators there are benefits too. Changes to smart ticketing radically change the facilities required at stations and at travel centres. As a consequence, some of the space currently used for ticketing could be freed up for increased retail or other purposes. Mobile phone operators Mobile network or device operators have an opportunity with smart ticketing to provide additional services to their customers, thereby making the smart phone or other device more intertwined with their travel. This should lead to increased sales of product or related services. Part of the offer from a mobile network or device operator could be improved provision of travel information, including real time, advice on journey planning options, tailored offers, and provision of targeted advertising. 5

9 Card service providers The introduction of contactless bank cards into transport smart ticketing brings bank card issuers more directly into this market. They already provide the payment means behind many conventional ticket and smart card product purchases. But the new model, being promoted by TfL in particular, brings them closer to the individual transaction. There is an incentive for their involvement in smart ticketing to increase their transaction fees. More significantly, using a contactless bank card as a form of smart ticket provides a potential catalyst for increased take-up of contactless card use in other sectors. Government Smart ticketing is not just about the benefits for individual passengers and the savings for operators. From a government perspective, efficiencies can translate into reduced subsidies or grants for rail or bus operations. But the bigger benefit is in the increase in use of public transport, which reduces road traffic congestion and by improving the connectivity of people to place of work boosts economic activity. 6

10 Why we travel the way we travel Encouraging people to travel by public transport remains high on the government s transport agenda. For our survey, we first wanted to understand what modes of transport people are currently using during a typical week and why. From the 2014 results (Figure 4), the car is still the dominant form of transport, with 75% of survey respondents stating they travel by car in a given week. By the same measure, the bus was used by 36% of respondents, followed by overground and underground train at 17% and 13% respectively. Compared with last year, car and bus travel are each down by 2%, balanced by an equivalent increase in each form of train travel. What s interesting is that age really plays a part use of overground or underground rail decreases and our use of the road network increases as we get older. As in our 2013 survey, convenience remains the main factor we take into account when choosing to travel by a specific mode of transport in rural and urban areas. Speed and reliability were the next two biggest determinants. Price was ranked fourth overall (it was second last year). Convenience, speed and reliability are therefore particularly decisive factors in determining whether someone is prepared to leave the car at home and consider public transport alternatives. Figure 4: What would you say are the main reasons that you use this method of transport over others? 80% Convenience 70% 60% Speed 50% 40% 30% Only available/ practical option Convenience Price Convenience Speed Convenience Convenience Convenience Price Concern for the Environment 20% 10% 0% Car Bus Overground Rail Underground Tram Bicycle Price Reliability Speed Convenience Safety Concern for the environment Only available/practical option Other 7

11 Increasing ridership on public transport Consumers are not a homogeneous group they will each have their own reasons for choosing to travel by a particular mode. And indeed, that reason may change from day to day, from week to week, based on changes in the weather, the journey purpose, their personal circumstances a whole host of factors. So there is no single thing a public transport operator should focus on doing to increase ridership. Rather, there are many levers that can be pulled to affect this choice. While it has dropped in priority in this year s survey results, consumers do still care about the price they pay for a service. Again there are differences among the age groups. For Generation Y (18-34 year olds), price remains a key factor in the mode decision (Figure 5). It is less so for older age groups, for example just 19% of year olds using a car cite price as a reason for choosing a mode, and this figure drops further to 9% for those over 54. Reassuringly for operators given the high volume, low-value transaction nature of bus travel in particular our survey results on the reason to travel point to a spread of priorities rather than just price. While bus and train services being cheaper was cited as one of the reasons for encouraging people to travel by them there are still a lot of other incentives that could be used that are not price-related. We asked in our survey what would encourage people to travel by either bus or train (Figure 6). One quarter said they would remain unpersuaded to travel more by bus despite potential incentives for them to switch modes. 30% had the same view about travel by train. So for those looking to encourage a switch, the glass is more than half full! Three quarters and 70% of travellers could be persuaded to travel by bus or rail more often respectively if the mix of incentives were right. Figure 5: % of respondents who chose to travel by car, bus and train because of price 38% 46% 32% 19% 33% 17% 9% 42% 21% Factors that would encourage more bus or train travel include: Reliability if the service departed and arrived on time, consistently, with 34% saying they would likely use the bus more, and 19% saying they might use the train more if this were improved. Convenience 27% say they would be encouraged to use the bus and 17% the train, if it had a timetable more suited to their needs. Speed 34% say they might use the bus more and 15% the train, if it were faster. Interestingly, all of these are higher (if only slightly) than the equivalent figures last year. This is an encouraging indicator that the appetite to switch modes under the right circumstances is edging upwards

12 Customer-related technologies falling under the banner of smart ticketing also generated positive responses toward a potential change of mode. Some 7% of respondents said they would be more encouraged to take the bus and 6% the train if information on ticket prices were easier to understand or if it were easier to purchase a ticket, implying that smart ticketing coupled with associated tailored information services could be effective in increasing public transport patronage without needing to alter fares. With the emergence of mobile as a means for payment as well as accessing passenger information, it is interesting that 9% of respondents would be encouraged to travel by bus and 5% by train if they were able to receive real-time journey information on their mobile devices. At first glance these figures towards incentives enabled by smart technologies seem small in comparison to the big ticket items of price and speed. However, if it were achievable, encouraging 5-9% of travellers to shift from car to bus or train would represent a significant uplift for public transport operators. Indeed, the panoply of responses suggests that customers are alive to the possibility of shifting to different means of transport and that there is much public transport operators can do to offer attractive alternatives. Figure 6: Which, if any, of the following reasons would encourage you to travel by bus/train? If it were cheaper If it were more reliable If it had a timetable that was more suited to my travel needs If it were faster If information on ticket prices were easier to understand If the transport and stations were cleaner If timetable information were easier to understand If it were safer If there was more information available in real time at the bus stop or station about how services are running If it were easier to buy a ticket If there was more information in real time on my smartphone or other electronic device about how services are running If it were less polluting Other Nothing would make me take this type more often % 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Bus Train 54 9

13 Behavioural trends in ticketing While the potential for smart ticketing is becoming more apparent, we wanted to understand whether passengers were taking advantage of the smart ticketing options currently available and, if not, what would persuade people to start using them. Of those who travel by bus and/or train, 56% normally use an ordinary paper ticket for their journey. This is followed by 19% who use a dedicated transport smart card. Interestingly, the future preferences for dedicated smart cards are 2% down when compared to 2013 s survey responses. This may be a turning point, reflecting a new awareness of how mobile devices and contactless bank cards can provide more convenient ticketing options. Figure 7: Overview of ticket usage and ticket preferences for bus and train journeys in UK In the future, only 42% would prefer to use an ordinary paper ticket for their bus/ train journeys, while 27% would like to use a dedicated transport smart card. This future preference for use of a paper ticket is 3% lower than it was in our March 2013 survey, when 45% of respondents expressed that they wish to continue using traditional paper tickets. It s clearly encouraging that this is moving in the right direction, but more needs to be done to convince the public of the benefits of alternative ticketing means. Current Usage 2014 Future Preference An ordinary paper ticket (e.g. single, return, season ticket etc.) A paper ticket which I print off myself A dedicated transport smart card (e.g. Oyster Card) A smartphone or other electronic device Figure 8: Comparison of future ticketing preferences to March 2013 survey Bus and rail ticketing in UK A debit or credit card (excl payment for separate tickets) Other Combined, the future preference for the self-service modes of print at home, mobile device, smart cards and contactless bank cards make up 45%, more than the future preference for paper tickets (42%). And indeed mobile devices are 4% up in changes to future preference. Change in preference from March 2013 to Sept 2014 Mobile device Contactless Smart card Smart Print at home Paper ticket 4% 1% 2% 5% 3% 10

14 The use of smart ticketing across the country When we look at a combination of smart card, contactless bank card and mobile device usage for ticketing we see that in London more than half (52%) of those surveyed use smart ticketing technologies. This compares with only 12% in the rest of the UK. Figure 9: Overview of smart usage in London vs the rest of the UK 12% Using smart or contactless bank card, or mobile device Rest of the UK 52% Using smart or contactless bank card, or mobile device in London Smart 11

15 The regional breakdown in Figure 10 supports that smart card usage has been primarily London-driven to date, where Oyster has gained wide acceptance. However, these regional differences highlight some interesting findings. In Northern Ireland, 23% of survey respondents are currently using a dedicated transport smart card. Also, the percentage in the East Midlands has risen sharply to 20%, up from 8% last year. This suggests that even a smart product offering that is more limited in scope than Oyster can lead to significant rates of smart card market penetration even without high and highly concentrated passenger volumes, and are therefore achievable in areas outside of London. Our recent report with The Smith Institute All change: delivering future city transport provides some possible explanations. We interviewed and surveyed councillors from across the UK on their views of transport in their region. The key findings were: Capital investment in local transport outside London has been the hardest hit area of transport spending. As a result of bus deregulation, councils cannot fully plan a network with services that connect to each other and to other modes of transport. 60% of councillors surveyed felt they did not have enough powers to deliver their transport plans. Figure 10: % of those currently using a dedicated transport smart card 60% 50% 48% 40% 30% 20% 10% 9% 10% 3% 20% 12% 13% 6% 11% 5% 8% 23% 0% North East North West Yorks & Humber East Midlands West Midlands East of England London South East South West Wales Scotland Northern Ireland 12

16 Mobile ticketing makes an entrance There s a new entrant into ticketing in London since our previous survey. Use of a mobile device for ticketing in the capital has increased from zero to 4% over the past 18 months (Figure 11). More significantly, there is a growing appetite for using mobile devices for ticketing, particularly among year olds (Figure 12). Nationally, 10% of young adults now have a preference for using their smart mobile device to access public transport services in the future. For year olds, this preference has gone up from 2% to 5%. This is encouraging because it means a material proportion of customers are open to a form of ticketing that can help reduce the cost to serve for network operators. More significantly, it opens up possibilities for customers to interact with their travel in a new way. Figure 11: The use of mobile device ticketing in London Mar % Sep % Based on two independent surveys from different samples Figure 12: % change in those who cite a preference for choosing a smart phone or other mobile device for ticketing in the future in the UK Mar % 2% 2% Sept % 5% 2% Change 4% 3%

17 Influencing customers to use smart ticketing The challenge in introducing a new form of ticketing is in encouraging customers to switch. Our survey findings suggest that incentives can be effective in moving passengers towards smart ticketing. 81% of those surveyed believed that at least one thing could convince them to ditch paper tickets in favour of using a dedicated smart card if it were available (Figure 13). This suggests there is significant untapped potential to convert customers to smart technologies. involve a discount at all. This reinforces that price is only one of several levers available to public transport operators to increase ridership, and that improving the service and developing a more intuitive customer proposition are also important in the eyes of the customer. Figure 13: Which, if any, of the following do you think would make you more likely to use a dedicated transport smart card, e.g. Oyster card, than you are now? 60% 57% In London, the Oyster card offers lower fares than the paper ticket alternative and this has proved very successful in converting customers. The introduction of contactless payments also comes with the incentive that customers won t pay more than the price of a weekly ticket if they exceed that amount of travel in a week using their card. Early signs of take-up are encouraging, but we ll have to wait until next year s survey to see the extent of its impact. 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 38% 33% 27% 18% 17% 19% Clearly price discounts are a good way to encourage a switch over half of those we surveyed would consider switching if this were the case. And the price promise receives strong support also. However, the third and fourth ranked incentives from our survey are striking in that they do not 0% 10% discount on all travel compared to paper tickets A commitment that you will always pay the lowest available fare The option to use the smart ticket on multiple forms of transport Loyalty points to use in exchange for discounts on future journeys 5% discount on all travel compared to paper tickets Tailored real-time information on my journey Nothing would make me more likely to use a dedicated transport smart card 14

18 Enhancing the public transport service offering If bus and train are going to offer an alternative to private car use then they need to build a competitive advantage. To do that they need to build a strong customer service offering that differentiates public transport from the car. One way they can do this is by offering additional products and services to enhance passenger experience, increase convenience and build loyalty. We included an additional question in our survey this year to explore some of these potential value-added services. It produced some interesting findings (Figure 14): 3. A customer s journey does not start and finish at a station. Some 9% of respondents would like to see car hire available at their chosen station. 8% wanted cycle hire. 4. There is a market for online collection services linked to stations. Some 10% in our survey said that they would like to see shopping collect / return services at stations. This figure was 22% for our year olds. Figure 14: Are there any other products and/or services that you would like to see offered with the transport methods you commonly use? 60% 50% 1. People want to be connected and productive while travelling. 37% and 23% of those surveyed would like Wi-Fi or power sources respectively installed on their method of transport. When we focus on the year olds alone, these figures rise to 57% and 38%. 40% 30% 20% 10% 37% 30% 23% 16% 10% 9% 8% 8% 2. There is appetite for a loyalty or rewards scheme on public transport services. 30% and 16% of respondents said they would like to see a loyalty card for discounts on travel or the ability to earn discounts on other goods and services respectively. This increased to 40% and 26% for our younger polled category. Some train operators already provide some form of scheme, or link to existing schemes. 0% Wi-Fi services on-board Loyalty card discounts on travel Power sockets / sockets on board The ability to earn discounts on other goods and services Shopping collect services and online shopping return services at stations Short term car hire for journeys to and from your mode of transport Goods and services ordering facilities Short-term cycle hire year olds 15

19 Further expanding the operating model We said last year that the current operating model for the public transport sector was not set up with smart ticketing in mind and that changes in this model would be necessary in order for the full benefits of smart to be realised. We hold to that view, but take it one stage further now in considering an additional role in the mix. Traditionally, public transport operators have been responsible for every interaction with their customers throughout the endto-end customer journey from provision of information, selling and validating tickets and providing the journey, through to customer service and handling of complaints. As the sector moves interestingly towards smart ticketing as we believe it is and must other entities will become involved in the service. At a minimum, there will need to be some separation of roles to allow for greater connectivity between schemes across the country. Already there are entities emerging that are playing a role in determining the customer experience. Last time we stated the potential for five key roles this time we are adding an additional role to that list. 1. Smart ticketing scheme owner: These organisations are responsible for defining the rules and fares within a transport ticketing scheme. For these to succeed, government needs to devolve more powers to these organisations in selected economic regions. 2. Transport operator: Bus and train operators are responsible for running services, either independently or in accordance with local contracts or national franchises. 3. Account provider: This is a newer role in ticketing, dealing with a customer s account and making sure they have what they need (e.g. a smart card) to use participating public transport services. 4. Back office provider: Working to a scheme, there is an emerging role to carry out fare calculations based on a passenger s use of a scheme, including providing the link between the scheme owner and the account provider. 5. Retailer: This used to be only the bus or train operator, but new entrants are already in play, particularly with third party rail retailers. More will enter this market as smart ticketing takes hold. However, we will see a diminishing need for physically located retailers as more customers manage accounts through self-service and switch to contactless payments. 6. Information service provider: We have included this as a new player this year. Information provision is becoming more tightly linked with ticketing so that tailored, relevant information is pushed to a traveller. This clearly has the ability to influence customer choice. The customer data the information service provider uses and holds is important in helping to set and flex pricing structures. 16

20 In some circumstances these can, of course, all be one and the same entity. But if the customer experience is to be seamless across the country, these new roles in the travel chain will need to emerge. We are already seeing more players entering the market with a view to owning the customer including banks and mobile network operators as smart ticketing moves to the next generation of innovative products. This is where we see the public transport operating model fundamentally changing, becoming more akin to the mobile or the bank card industry, with a separation between the retailer and the account provider. We need collaboration between all of these to make sure smart ticketing works seamlessly for all modes of public transport across the country. We should not forget that the central figure in any future operating model is the customer. Transport operators have a real opportunity to do more for their customers, starting with how they design and develop smart ticketing schemes. However, creating an appealing customer proposition inevitably requires an upfront investment, with implications for any transport operator s business and ticketing strategy. In tackling these challenges transport operators and other players considering entering the smart ticketing market will need to consider the following: Do we need to design for multiple ticketing solutions to cater for changing consumer preferences ranging from traditional forms of cash payment to mobile or contactless bank cards? How can we take advantage of smart ticketing as a platform for new marketing campaigns and pricing models to attract new customers and drive demand? What are the cost implications and how can investments be effectively managed to maximise return? How should any smart ticketing offering link to other types of services provided to consumers? Having clarity on the answers to these questions will help operators and others involved in the sector to develop a coherent and realistic vision that can deliver the smart ticketing benefits for all stakeholders operators, government and passengers. 17

21 Conclusions The findings from our survey provide some important indicators to realising the benefits that smart ticketing can offer: 1. Convenience is paramount 2. Better information can encourage modal shift 3. The appetite for smart ticketing is growing 4. Price is a key driver for passengers to change to smart 5. Fare commitments provide a compelling case to switch to smart 6. Additional products and services on transport services and in stations can improve the attraction of public transport 7. Separating roles in the operating model will enable widespread rollout Success for smart ticketing will depend on the extent to which all those involved in public transport provision decide to put smart ticketing at the heart of services. Government has been encouraging this through subsidies and contract incentives. But operators and local authorities will need to have a clear, joined-up vision on the customer offering if it is to return on the investment required to achieve significant market penetration. Our survey indicates that there is appetite for smart ticketing, which suggests the scale necessary for a good return on investment can be achieved. But this will happen only if the customer proposition is clearly articulated and there is a high degree of collaboration among all those involved in delivering smart ticketing services. 18

22 About the survey This research was conducted in Autumn 2014 under the strict guidelines of the Market Research Society Code of Conduct by Opinium Research, a research and insight generation agency offering a range of qualitative, quantitative, and collaborative methods ( people participated in an online interview. Female 51% Gender Male 49% Who we surveyed: % Age % % Region Northern Ireland North East Scotland 4 North West 8% 3 Wales 11% 5% Yorks & Humber 8% South West 9% 7% 14% 9% South East 13% 9% East of England London East Midlands West Midlands About PwC At PwC we focus on three things for government and the public sector: assurance, tax and advisory services. Working together with our clients across central government, local government, health, education, transport, housing, social care, defence and international development, we look for practical, workable solutions that make a difference in solving the pressing challenges that are being faced every day. As well as bringing our insight and expertise to this sector, we contribute our thinking and experience to the public policy debate through our Public Sector Research Centre. To join this free online community, go to and register today for regular updates on our research and analysis. Contacts Jamie Houghton Partner Tel: +44 (0) jamie.n.houghton@uk.pwc.com Grant Klein Director Tel: +44 (0) grant.a.klein@uk.pwc.com 19

23 Join the debate. The Public Sector Research Centre is PwC s online community for insight and research into the most pressing issues and challenges facing government and public sector organisations, today and in the future. The PSRC enables the collaborative exchange of ideas between policy makers, opinion formers, market experts, academics and practitioners internationally. To register for this free resource please visit This publication has been prepared for general guidance on matters of interest only, and does not constitute professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained in this publication without performing appropriate due diligence and/or obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and, to the extent permitted by law, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, its members, employees and agents accept no liability, and disclaim all responsibility, for the consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on this information contained or for any decision based on it PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. All rights reserved. In this document, PwC refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP which is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each member firm of which is a separate legal entity.

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