Many people working within the public sector feel stifled by bureaucracy and frustrated at the lack of freedom and flexibility they have to respond to the public's ever increasing demand for quality services. This feeling has been enhanced by budget cuts and the risk of job losses. How should we respond to this perfect storm engulfing our public services?
The services that different communities need can be very diverse, so there can be no one-size-fits-all solution. To find the answer we need to turn traditional top-down delivery of public services on its head.
Forming an independent co-operative or other form of independent social enterprise allows staff to take responsibility for their own future and that of the public service they provide. The Cabinet Office mutuals taskforce, chaired by Prof Julian Le Grand, wants to see 1 million people working in public service mutuals by 2015. This is around 15% of the public sector workforce – a stretching yet achievable target.
To help staff better understand and take advantage of this opportunity, a guide has been published by Co-operatives UK, the national trade association for co-operative enterprises, and mutual ventures, a social enterprise which provides support to frontline staff groups. The guide reflects 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.
As the guide explains, the shift to a mutual model is one where preparation and patience pays off. It is important to understand the options and issues, because the decisions you make early on are akin to setting the DNA of what is to emerge. That DNA will define what happens for years to come.
Getting the agreement of those who will form the mutual and those who will be commissioning from it, may feel like a luxury in the current climate of financial insecurity. You may have no choice but to move fast. But their support will be vital and their input to some of the early decisions will help build the chances of success down the line.
Working through issues with them will quickly bring you to the fundamental issues of business planning – such as what revenue streams you have open to you, what contract terms you can hope for and what it means for your team in terms of pensions, terms and conditions.
Use advice where you can, but start with an experienced co-operative development adviser if you do. It is easy to be rushed towards decisions like agreeing your legal model or contract arrangement but by being patient you can avoid making mistakes that you then have todeal with later on.
The guide is designed to help identify these issues, demystify what it means to be a co-operative and give a sense of the journey ahead.
Setting up public service mutuals is not a new idea of course. There are some excellent examples already in operation, for example:
• Salford Community Leisure: an employee, user and community owned mutual that runs over 50 leisure centres and community buildings in Salford
• Harwich Connexions: an employee, user and community owned co-operative that runs various services for young people in Essex
• Sunshine Care: an employee owned co-operative that provides care services in Rochdale
• Harness Care Co-operative: a London based group of of GPs providing out-of-hours and other services
This website will be profiling each of these co-operatives in more detail over the coming weeks.
Getting up and running as a co-operative is hard work and our guide quite deliberately doesn't look to sugar coat any aspect of the journey – but it will help staff groups take the first positive steps towards setting up a co-operative. If done in the right way it is an incredibly rewarding experience.
Ed Mayo is secretary general of Co-operatives UK and Andrew Laird is a director of Mutual Ventures
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here.
