Category Archives: mutualisation

All Party Group lauds promise of mutualising public services – but warns against economic motives

Posted on 09/06/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

An article in Community Care magazine has said employee-led mutuals could positively transform public services as long as they are not driven by economic motives.

The magazine cites a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Employee Ownership, which found the coalition government had made “significant process” with its commitment to mutualise public services, including social work.

But the all party group warned that, although many employee-led mutuals had reported efficiencies, cost-cutting alone “should not be the prime motivator for seeking out mutual ownership models”.

The MPs, chaired by Conservative MP Jesse Norman, identified some concerns about the timing of the mutuals intitiative. Trade unions in particular have suggested it is being driven by financial considerations rather than the desire to give frontline workers more freedom and control.

“Several witnesses told us that the timing of the public service mutuals initiative, during a time of deep budget cuts at central and local government level, was inflicting severe damage on how the initiative was perceived and how it was being implemented,” the report said.

“The group is concerned to hear that some spin-outs appear solely driven from very senior level, typically under the pressure of the need for immediate short term cuts, with the wider base of employees engaged only after the process had started.

The APPG, set up in 2007 to raise awareness of the benefits of employee ownership, also noted that the “plethora” of employee ownership models available had caused confusion among frontline workers.

Norman said policy makers should do more to connect would-be mutuals with experts and ensure that advice is accessible.

You can download the report here

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Newcastle Council to be in vanguard of public services reform, including using mutuals?

Posted on 08/06/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

There is an interesting piece in the Guardian’s Society pages today about the ambitions of Newcastle Council in pushing through public services reform.

Peter Hetherington’s article  says that Nick Forbes, the new Labour leader in Newcastle has two problems to grapple with: budget cuts this year of £45m, and reinvigorating the existing management regime.

Forbes is quoted as saying that one of the big challenges is to reinvent the concept of public services in the 21st century in a way that matches Labour’s values of equality and fairness and co-operation. “There’s the opportunity to capitalise on what the government is saying around mutuals and workers’ co-operatives and develop genuinely new models that give service users and staff a stronger ‘say’ but also protect essential public services from the destructive forces of market competition.”

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Audit Commission to Offer Procurement Opportunity for Employee-led Mutuals to bid for projects

Posted on 06/06/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

An article published by eGovMonitor has suggested that local authority audits could be outsourced to the private sector by 2012/13.

eGovMonitor suggested that the Audit Commission has been asked to develop a procurement process through which a range of firms could bid for the projects. These would also include employee led mutuals.

“We have been asked to design a procurement process that allows a range of firms to bid, including the possibility of an in-house bid, which could form the basis of a new and distinctive provider in the market, possibly a mutual,” Eugene Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Audit Commission said.

 

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Mutuals: After the Big Society, the Good Society…

Posted on 04/06/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

I came across a piece from Public Finance written by Maurice Glasman discussing what Labour’s answer to the Big Society might mean in practice.

There are some interesting thoughts on mutuals here. Glasman writes:

“There is far more to meaningful work than money and self-interest; it is the way we serve and change the world. The workforce is at the heart of this. The Good Society stresses its importance in the private as well as the public sector. This is very different to the Big Society agenda, which does not recognise that capital seeks the highest rate of return and thus creates great pressure to turn both humans and nature into commodities.

“To understand what is at stake here, look at the idea of corporate governance. The Big Society offers two ideas of corporate governance for the public and private sectors. In terms of the state, it prefers a form of mutualisation, developed by Julian Le Grand, in which public services are provided by worker-owned enterprises. There is no balance of interest in the governance of the service provider, and users and funders are excluded. State-funded services have no representation on the board. This is in contrast to the Big Society view of private sector corporate governance, in which the worker has no status at all and managerial sovereignty prevails.

“Our ‘Blue Labour’ approach brings the two together. Reliance on managerial sovereignty is both wasteful and ineffective and does not engage fully the innovation, creativity and vocational energy of the workforce. It is a contractual and assessment-based model that focuses too much on procedure and not enough on developing relationships.

“Instead, a third of the mutual boards should be elected by the workforce. Another third should be represented by users (the involvement of users is an important part of community organising that needs to be undertaken to strengthen society and give voice to disorganised people). The final third of the board should be the local authority or the state, which has a legitimate interest in procedure, wider social goals and its integration into government policy.”

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Mutuals: Financial Times report says the Coalition’s Public Service Reform Plan is On Hold until July

Posted on 03/06/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

A report in the Financial Times has suggested that David Cameron’s plan to free public services “from the grip of state control” has been put on hold until July, in the face of opposition from the Liberal Democrats and public concern over the privatisation of health and social care.

The positive aspect of this story, however, is still that the White Paper has been delayed, not shelved, and that  ‘mid-July’  is still only a few weeks away.

The report says the plan to transform public services through greater use of private providers, mutuals and social enterprises has already been cut back and is now the subject of coalition wrangling.

The FT report says: “Downing St insiders confirmed on Wednesday that the vaunted white paper on reform – originally set for publication in January – is now unlikely to be published until mid-July.

“Mr Cameron has already been forced to abandon a proposal in last year’s comprehensive spending review that the white paper should set quotas for handing over public services to independent providers.

“In February, he promised to create “a new presumption” for public services to be open to a range of providers competing to offer a better service.

“Conservative officials said work was under way to create a white paper that set the framework for the coalition’s approach to the public services, including opening up opportunities for small and medium-sized companies and mutuals.

“An earlier draft largely set out existing government plans, including cutting the cost of Whitehall procurement by centralising much of it, encouraging a million public sector employees to form social enterprises and using payment by results for welfare-to-work and offender rehabilitation.

“Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, is insisting the final white paper does not pave the way for the wholesale privatisation of public services – resisting a push for a big expansion in independent provision by Mr Cameron’s policy adviser Steve Hilton.

“Nick does not want there to be any sense that the public sector can’t be a provider of good quality public services,” said one Lib Dem official.”

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Mutuals: “a serious part of the answer in terms of transforming public services and delivery”

Posted on 02/06/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

I must admit I hadn’t heard of Policy Review TV until now. But this clip of Bob Ricketts, Director of Provider Policy at the Department of Health speaking to delegates at the Employee Mutuals conference makes for interesting viewing.

In his remarks, Ricketts suggested that, “Despite the economic situation and current politics, mutuals are here to stay and they are a serious part of the answer in terms of transforming public services and delivery, for example in the NHS on our £15-20 billion worth of savings”.

He added that,  “Social enterprises have a very good, proven track record of providing quality services that are often much more responsive than statutory services and doing so cost effectively”, he said, citing some of the innovative work done by the Whizz-Kids charity.”

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Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude tells private sector: ‘Come and knock on our door’

Posted on 27/05/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude has insisted that large private sector service providers are still a part of the Coalition’s pluralist vision for the delivery of public services.  Although the volume of conventional outsourcing will decline,Maude challenged the private sector to engage with the Government and to pioneer new ways of working.
 
Talking to members of the Business Services Association, Maude laid out his vision of a new chapter in public/private sector collaboration. Giving the Association’s Annual Lecture,  Maude urged private sector contractors to work with him to realise the opportunities to reform the delivery of public services.
 
As the public sector represents some 40% of the revenue of business services companies, there was ‘standing room only’ to hear Maude’s vision of the future. He referred to this interdependence to justify his call for a shared effort in looking for efficiencies. Whilst the inherited budget deficit lends an edge to the Government’s reforming drive, Maude was keen to look beyond mere cost savings to facilitate new approaches to accountability and stakeholder involvement. Referring to staff consultation over reform, he sees there is potential to energise and challenge Government from within and set out his mission to “set this passion for the public service ethos free” from the shackles of outmoded workplace practices. But he also realises that this objective cannot be realised solely from within and he is looking to establish relationships with the big service providers to help the Government on its way. And in particular, he sees the need for the large players to work with mutuals, SMEs and charities to find new models for the delivery of services.
 
Commenting on the address,  Michael Ryley, Head of Support Services at Pinsent Mason, the Annual Lecture’s sponsor said: “The Government is clearly conscious of the difficulty of driving change from within a public sector workforce which is steeped in a tradition of delivering services in a certain way.  Given that modern procurement creates the potential for workforces to move seamlessly between private and public sector employers, the Government is clearly attracted by encouraging flexibility and using private sector expertise to energise the public service ethos.” 

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Report suggests international lessons must be learned on developing public service mutuals

Posted on 24/05/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

A new international review being presented to government by Jonathan Bland, an international expert on co-operatives and social enterprise, has suggested that the UK is not yet equipped to turn public services into mutuals.

The review, Time to Get Serious: International Lessons for Developing Public Service Mutuals, commissioned by Co-operatives UK, the trade association for co-operative enterprises, highlights how the UK must learn from the experiences of Spain, Italy and Sweden, where public service co-operatives are flourishing because government creates a supportive environment and provides workers with appropriate business support and knowledge.

“The international review shows that in all three countries, the growth of public service co-operatives has been closely linked to enabling legal and fiscal frameworks, with sector-led support structures that are able to provide specialist advice and share learning,” says Bland.

The report is available here from the Co-Operatives UK site.

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Public service mutuals: will the optimistic or pessimistic view prevail?

Posted on 23/05/2011 | Leave a comment

There’s an interesting piece here by the Transition Institute, which has looked ‘back from the future’ from May 2016 at the implementation of public service mutuals, taking either an optimistic or  pessimistic stance. Intriguing idea – worth a read.

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Co-Op launches mutuals advice service for local councils

Posted on 19/05/2011 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

The C0-Operative Group has launched a new ‘one-stop-shop’ offering to help local councils set up new mutuals to provide local services.

‘Public Service Mutuals’ is aimed at directors of services in local government and public sector bodies. It will offer practical assistance and examine the potential for mutualised services in six stages.

You can find out more from this article in Public Finance

Meanwhile a new guide, Co-operative Business District, has been published by Co-operatives UK, the national trade body for co-operative enterprises, and Mutual Ventures, a social enterprise which provides support to front-line staff groups, to reflect the journey that staff will embark on – from learning about the benefits and risks of ‘spinning out’ to taking practical steps to set up an independent enterprise.

The Guide is available here

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