Category Archives: Mutuals and social enterprises

Putting public assets back in community hands

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By Robin Clarke, OPM fellow.

Robin ClarkeThis is the latest in a series of posts in anticipation of new research from OPM about what local government can do to unlock local capacity. To find out more about the free evening seminar on Tuesday 21 February where the research will be launched, click here.

Reading the news this week about the Circle Partnership’s takeover of Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire it’s understandable that people might conclude that where a service is struggling the only viable alternative to public sector management is a solution involving significant private sector input. But in some cases community ownership can be the best answer.

Take the Battersea Arts Centre, for instance. A little while ago I was sitting there helping to facilitate an event about the future of health services in South West London. The venue had a ‘shabby chic’ feel to it and a cat (Pluto – on the staff list as Head of Security, Sleeping and Prowling) who strutted about checking everyone out. But I wondered if I was the only person at the event who was aware of the great transformation that had taken place there?

The Battersea Arts Centre is a shining example of how local people can take over the management of a public asset and not only save a service from possible closure, but also improve it. The building has been threatened with closure many times in its long history, but finally it seems to have found a sustainable future. Since taking over the asset the Centre has broadened its range of projects and seen an increasing number of visitors. Continue reading →

Why employee owners must be more than just shareholders

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By Phil Copestake, OPM principal.

Phil CopestakeThe Deputy Prime Minister’s speech yesterday highlighted a paradox at the heart of the employee ownership business model. You can’t have a mutual without actual shared ownership, and yet owning shares does not in and of itself guarantee the benefits of being a mutual. As Mr Clegg said: sharing ownership means sharing power. But to really maximise the potential of mutual models the staff who own the business need guaranteed influence too. Continue reading →

Vital service for public sector mutuals re-launched

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By Phil Copestake, OPM’s head of communications.

Phil CopestakeFor some time now we’ve been writing on this blog and elsewhere about the importance for new public sector mutuals of knowledge sharing, peer support and joining up access to relevant expertise. Yesterday there was really good news on this front, with the Government’s re-launch of the Mutuals Information Service (MIS).

The MIS brings together information, advice and guidance, including a new website to support individuals and teams who are looking to begin the journey, a new national hotline, and – perhaps most significantly – potential access to funding for bespoke professional support (the long-promised £10m Mutuals Support Programme). Continue reading →

Putting social value at the heart of new public sector mutuals

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By Linda Jackson, OPM associate fellow.

Linda JacksonI recently attended a great event held by the Transition Institute to launch their publication on public service spin outs called, Towards a Social Value Ethos. The lively and challenging debate focused on the different things that need to happen in order to spin out public services into a different form of ownership. Whilst the paths, processes and duration of each transition are likely to vary from organisation to organisation, there are some commonalities that need to be in place for the journey to effectively take place. Continue reading →

Practical tips to overcome the challenges facing public sector mutuals: event report

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By Phil Copestake, OPM’s head of communications.

Phil CopestakeLast week saw OPM’s Spinning Out Mutuals fringe event at the National Children and Adult Services (NCAS) conference. The session was really successful, with a packed room at the cavernous ExCel centre, excellent speakers (well, apart from yours truly) and a lively debate. For those who couldn’t make it, I thought I’d post a few of the best practical tips mentioned for overcoming the genuine challenges facing those wishing to ‘spin out’ public sector mutuals. The important contribution that events like this make to raising awareness of mutuals was underlined by Jesse Norman MP:

The short inquiry report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Employee Ownership, which I chair, emphasised how important it is that the Government’s mutuals programme is better understood and viewed as a means to drive real improvements in our communities. Organisations like OPM play an important role in building awareness about mutuals and helping to create the capacity for change. Only by understanding the real life experiences of people who have already started down this route – such as the speakers and participants at this NCAS event – can we capitalise on the tantalizing possibility of public sector mutuals.

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New challenges face the social care sector: Now is the time for mutuals

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In this guest post, Dr Guy Turnbull, director of Care & Share Associates Ltd (CASA), talks about how new models of ownership may help the health and social care sector overcome its challenges.

Dr Guy TurnbullWith the residential care system rocked by allegations of abuse and the collapse of one of the country’s leading private providers of residential care, the situation has never more needed a radical rethink of how health and social care might be delivered safely and securely. Continue reading →

Making the case for mutuals: three key ingredients

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By Phil Copestake, OPM’s head of communications.

Phil CopestakeAs my colleague Hilary noted in her post last week, questions are being asked about whether the Coalition’s grand ambitions for developing staff-owned mutuals in the public sector can be fulfilled. The national picture may be mixed, but when it comes to individual local areas it all boils down to whether you can make the case (and whether there’s a case to be made, of course).

In advance of OPM’s Spinning Out Mutuals fringe event at the National Children and Adult Services conference – which is free to attend – I thought I’d road-test what seem to be some of the key ingredients for checking whether a mutual is right for you, your service and your community. (I’m also going to speaking about public service mutuals at an EU-sponsored conference in Brussels, next Tuesday, so if you’re able to offer your thoughts on this post in the comments box, or via Twitter @philblogs, then you’ll be doing me a considerable service!) 

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An Indian summer for public service mutuals?

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By Hilary Thompson, OPM chief executive.

Hilary ThompsonOver the spring and summer there was less media interest in public service mutuals and perhaps less actual new interest on the ground. But as England enjoys an Indian summer, we’re expecting interest to increase again.

At national level, there have been many questions about whether we yet have the right climate for public service mutuals in this country (as illustrated by Co-operatives UK’s report on international comparisons). Continue reading →

Moving to mutuals at the right pace and scale

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By Phil Copestake, OPM head of communications and strategy.

Phil CopestakeThe Government has a truly ambitious target of one million public sector workers moving to employee-owned mutuals by 2015 – a sixth of the workforce.

There’s a danger of this kind of target leading to a pace and scale of change that could be damaging for new mutuals, which experience shows have most chance of flourishing if they’re allowed to evolve at a more natural rate. Whatever happens, it will be vital for the right support package to be in place. Continue reading →

Setting an agenda? The Open Public Services White Paper

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 By Phil Copestake, OPM head of research.

Phil CopestakeThe Government’s Open Public Services White Paper published on Monday identifies the issues and questions it wants to answer over the course of the coming months, and the principles that will underpin its reform agenda. But when it comes to the role of local authorities and the place of employee owned mutuals, we all know the devil will be in the detail. As Nick Timmins writes in the FT today: ‘The white paper on its own changes nothing. Its success will be decided on how cleverly, vigorously and practicably its principles are applied.’

Like everyone else, at OPM we’ve been waiting for the Open Public Services White Paper with baited breath for many, many months. I say ‘everyone else’, but of course the rather muted coverage of the Coalition’s launch of its ‘comprehensive policy framework’ was to be expected. This is the Government setting a broad agenda and high level principles, rather than making specific policy commitments: it’s too wide-ranging for those. And policy frameworks are not exactly sexy, however comprehensive.

Local government driving reform?

So with that said, what to make of it? In the day or so it’s been in our hands, OPM’s interest has focused on what the White Paper indicates for the future of local government, and what it has to say about mutuals. Continue reading →