Recently David Cameron launched a major defence of the Big Society and declared the initiative as ‘his mission’. Today, the Big Society is one of the most hotly debated topics in the country. Some are passionate about it and believe the initiative could herald important changes in the public and voluntary sectors whilst others view it as a ‘cover up’ for budget cuts.
A recent survey found that nearly 40% supported the idea of the private and third sector delivering public services whilst the rest were either not sure or opposed the idea. Love it or loath it, the Big Society is firmly on the agenda for the public, third and private sector. The Big Society in its broadest sense is the devolution of power which will allow local communities, voluntary organisations, private companies and local governments to run services.
The public sector is said to be facing some of the deepest post-War cuts with the government expected to slash £81bn in spending . Given the scale of the economic challenge ahead, public, charity and private sector organisations are expressing concern about how they are actually going to deliver services under the Big Society banner. It is argued that many citizens feel that some state run services are inefficient and badly organised and as such, transferring these services to local groups, charities and private organsations could make them more efficient . As some organisations and groups already have the specialist skills to run certain services, allowing them to manage them does make sense.
The ‘Open Public Services’ white paper provides a clearer indication on how the Government wishes to decentralise public services. As part of the Government’s reforms, it is keen to increase the number of providers delivering key services to the public. The Government has already announced plans that it wants to introduce a ‘Rights to provide’ scheme which will allow entrepreneurial front-line staff to take over and run services as a mutual, co-op or joint venture by partnering with the private and third sector.
In fact Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude predicts that by 2015 up to one million public sector workers will be employee owners and partners in mutuals delivering public services . Mututals can take many forms and can range from health service staff wanting to launch an employee-owned social enterprise to help homeless, marginalised or vulnerable patients, to employees from local authorities getting together to form a mutual to deliver children’s services.
One recent example has been the announcement from Wandsworth Council that employees at York Gardens Library , which faces closure, have formed a mutual trust to ensure its survival by partnering with local schools, a private school foundation and with help from volunteers.
Another example of a joint venture was highlighted by the Institute for Public Care (IPC) at Oxford Brookes University which cited a care at-home project for people in Bath and North East Somerset suffering from motor neurone disease. This was said to cost £1,000 per person a month when provided by Neurological Commissioning Support, compared with £45,000 a month for unplanned hospital treatment . The Neurological Commissioning Support is a joint venture to improve end-of-life care between the MS Society, Motor Neurone Disease Association and Parkinson’s UK and it works with PCTs and County Councils.
Whilst no one can downplay the fundamental role capital plays to fund any service - it is these kinds of collaborative strategy that will make a key difference to groups and organisations who want to deliver services in the Big Society.
If a group of public sector workers are forming a joint venture or if you are an organisation already in existence, what do you need to bear in mind when forming partnerships? Every strategic collaboration involves the exchange of resources, so consider what you need in order to deliver your service and likewise what expertise and resources you can provide your partners in exchange. Infrastructure, professional expertise and technology are just some of the areas where a collaborative approach can help to achieve key efficiencies.
Infrastructure: If you are looking for new premises, private and third sector organisations can help provide space in their own office or at least point you in the direct direction. In the case of York Gardens Library, it was a local school that provided the space to house the new library.
Professional expertise: Your expertise in a service is likely to be of valuable use to voluntary and private sector companies. Beyond financial resources, there are other contributions a partner can bring to a venture which can be just as valuable. A partner with a strong business network, industry connections, client database and expertise can also increase the value of your organisation and improve the chances of success. So tap into your partner’s resources to ensure you benefit from expertise in areas such as finance, HR, legal and marketing.
Technology: A number of people, including Lord Nat Wei who advises the Prime Minster on the Big Society, acknowledge the pivotal role technology can play when delivering services. Your technical partners should be able to advise you on how you can use technology to maximum effect.
Depending on the nature of your service, consider what role technology and the internet in particular could play. Needless to say the internet is available 24 hours a day, so it does provide the ideal inexpensive vehicle to provide a range of services – especially if your service runs overnight. Setting up a web based self-help service or even the humble text message is worth considering when you want to keep costs low and create a service where people can have as much or as little interaction as they choose.
As a charitable organisation, we ourselves have partnered with a number of public and private sector organisations and have done so for a number of years. However given the impending budget cuts, an increasing number of public sector organisations now see the collaborative approach as a pressing need. We have given partners access to our experts and we have benefited by having access to their specialist skills. Ultimately there is no secret potion to a successful partnership, just that an open and honest approach is the key ingredient to help create a mutually beneficial relationship.
We recently helped a partner understand the complexities of communication technologies so they could use it to maximise their outreach and keep costs to a minimum. In turn they helped us achieve a higher level of understanding around the security protocols of the Information Assurance Framework which has now benefited us tremendously.
In summary, both the public and third sectors have had to grapple with limited budgets to deliver services to the most needy. Decentralising public services is naturally an emotive and contentious issue. People have raised questions about whether public sector staff owned mutuals will have the culture, expertise and resources necessary to make a positive impact on public services.
Some have also argued whether the mutuals will be any different to the ones they are replacing. The old adage ‘cash is king’ rings very true today. But given the scale of the budgetary cuts and the fact that some organisations, be it a mutual or a charity, will have far less resources than others, what we need is strategic collaboration. It must also be across private, public and third sector organisations so expertise and resources are shared.
Before embarking on a strategic alliance, first conduct a thorough evaluation of your own operations from the bottom up to find suitable areas where collaboration can help you to be more progressive. Ask yourself constantly: what could we be doing differently? The strategic alliance must drive innovation and efficiency. Do not shy away from using technology. In fact technology should help to free up resources for you to use elsewhere. Your aim is to deliver a key service to people who need it the most and whilst this might sound like the obvious - ensure that your collaborative approach achieves this very task.