See how very little turns into a big deal for the local economy

If you are a council, a library, a school, a college, a housing association, a health service, a crèche, a butcher, a baker, an accountant, a bank, a building society, a designer, a consultant, a manufacturer, a retailer and buy goods or services, think about what you need and how you want to buy it –

Your decision could significantly strengthen the local economy…

Local Multiplier 3 (LM3) is a tool that calculates the added value of spending money locally. As money circulates within the community the added value increases and the local economy becomes stronger and more resilient – depending on the volume of cash involved.

This ready reckoner uses the data from the Wansbeck District Council LM3 study and calculates the added value to the local economy depending on the volume of cash released – the multiplier effect.

Type in the figure that you want to direct to the local economy - either your budget or a proportion of it - and watch the pennies drop into the piggy bank. This amount is how much your expenditure is worth to your local community.

Small change = big difference to our local wealth.

The Procurement Centre can help you source local suppliers and get the most out of your investments in terms of the wider benefits to the community.

The Ready Reckoner

While you might think that the sums are wrong – this calculator already includes the value of the money circulating around our communities in the maths.

A smaller volume of money will have less of an impact than a larger volume of money in terms creating wealth. So for smaller volumes of money you may only see an added value of 50p per £ but for larger volumes our communities could additionally benefit by more than £1.66 for every £ spent. The calculator takes all this into account.

The way to think about this idea of added value is to remember that as currency passes from hand to hand in the community it makes people richer.

For example, Jenny works for the Council and receives her pay into the bank every month. On the last Friday of every month she pays her childminder Jane. Jane then goes to the newsagents on the Front Street in Bedlington and buys a paper and a 20p mix-up for each of the children she looks after. Jan, the owner of the newsagents then uses this money to pay her paperboys and girls …and so it goes on….

Try the ready reckoner and see what just spending a small proportion of your budget in South East Northumberland could do for the local economy.