Many extravagant claims have been made about the potential benefits that co-operatives and mutuals could bring as service delivery vehicles for the provision of local public services. But when the evidence is examined in detail, do these claims stand the test of scrutiny?
This is what our latest research, Proof of delivery, set out to explore. The study was undertaken through a knowledge transfer partnership with De Montfort University, bringing academic research expertise to bear on practical problems for local government.
The first key finding of the study was that there is very little evidence to support any of the claims made about the superiority of co-operatives and mutuals over any other form of service delivery in public services. From 1,600 sources, our researchers were only able to find 12 cases where any impact evaluation had been carried out. For a concept that is being pushed so hard as a response to the cuts agenda this is asking decision-makers to take a huge leap of faith.
But from the limited evidence base that exists, some key factors appear for successful operation within the public sector. These include:
Contract lock in – an initial, sufficiently long contract detailing both the volume of work and financial commitment offer time for the new arrangements to settle.
Collaboration – there is a need for ongoing support for mutuals through public subsidy, advocacy and expert advice in order to support fledgling organisations.
Buy in – there must be buy in from all involved, from council staff and elected members to citizens and service users.
The Association for Public Services Excellence has argued for a number of years that, without ongoing support, collaboration and facilitation from the public sector, the social economy will struggle to survive; our research reinforces this message.
Another finding to emerge from the research is that there is evidence of downward pressure on staff terms and conditions brought about by the formation of co-operatives and mutuals. At a time when statutory protection of terms and conditions are being removed from public sector workers by the government, this is highly unlikely to generate greater enthusiasm for a transfer to this model of provision among the key asset of any organisation – its dedicated staff.
A final and fundamental point is the fact that very little evidence exists of accountability to elected members or the wider community. In a time of diminishing budgets and intensified scrutiny of public spending, are local politicians really going to hand over public funds to bodies with a self interest without any influence or recourse should things start to go wrong.
APSE would like to see a proper evidence-based debate on the role that co-operatives and mutuals can play in public service delivery and would support their use where they can demonstrably add real value. Anything less would do local communities a great disservice.
Paul O'Brien is the chief executive of the Association for Public Service Excellence
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