Public service mutuals

The Cabinet Office wants to see 1 million public service staff working in mutuals by 2015.

Extracts from an article by Andrew Laird in Social Enterprise:

"This week the Cabinet Office launched the Mutuals Support Programme which will facilitate the provision of support to public sector staff who wish to form an independent mutual or social enterprise from which to continue delivering their service. This is very positive step - but the programme has been launched into rather rough seas."

"I believe the only way to genuinely build in sustainable efficiency is to push resources as far towards the front line as possible to empower front line staff. Make them responsible and accountable for the effective use of their limited resources. I would argue that the most effective and cleanest way to do this is to allow staff to group together and form a public service mutual. This creates an environment where it is in the staff's interests to innovate at a micro level and find better and more efficient ways of doing things."

"The Cabinet Office wants to see 1 million public service staff working in mutuals by 2015. However, as public sector funds continue to be squeezed many public sector managers are reverting to the old fashioned centralising model - and many consultants are advising it! This is not only a leap in exactly the wrong direction but makes it harder for teams to gain their freedom through mutualisation in the future as they are inextricably caught up in the central bureaucracy."

To see the full article click here

Andrew Laird is a director of Mutual Ventures, a social enterprise which supports frontline staff to set up mutuals