UK not equipped for public services mutuals says new review

A new international review being presented to government by Jonathan Bland, an international expert on co-operatives and social enterprise, reveals that the UK is not yet equipped to turn public services into mutuals.

The review, Time to Get Serious: International Lessons for Developing Public Service Mutuals, commissioned by Co-operatives UK, the trade association for co-operative enterprises, highlights how the UK must learn from the experiences of Spain, Italy and Sweden, where public service co-operatives are flourishing because government creates a supportive environment and provides workers with appropriate business support and knowledge.

"The international review shows that in all three countries, the growth of public service co-operatives has been closely linked to enabling legal and fiscal frameworks, with sector-led support structures that are able to provide specialist advice and share learning,” says Jonathan Bland.

"I am impressed with the government's vision for public service mutuals, however, the UK is not yet equipped to make it happen. Understanding of the business models is limited and support is fragmented. To date there has not been investment of sufficient resources.

"Today, I am calling on government to invest in the creation of a new long-term specialist support service for public servants to provide training, business advice and help with access to finance that is appropriate to co-operative and mutual enterprise."

Key findings in the new review show that where public service co-operatives are thriving, there has been long-term commitment and investment by government.

• In Italy, there are over 7,000 co-operatives that provide social care, health and employment services, which is arguably the most extensive and successful programme of mutualisation anywhere in the world. Their success comes from creating a clearly defined legal structure for ‘social co-operatives.’
• In Spain, there are around 550 co-operative schools, and their success reflects links with a wider, successful co-operative business sector but also benefits from long-term thinking from the state, particularly clear legislation and favourable taxation.
• In Sweden, 1,200 childcare co-operatives provide pre-school care for around 30,000 children. The state has helped to grow childcare co-operatives by investing in a national framework of co-operative business advice.

Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, says: "The government has ambitious targets for the number of public sector workers setting up co-operatives, and predicts that as many as one million people, one in six public sector employees, could be working in new mutual enterprises delivering public services by 2015.

"However, with the international review concluding that the UK policy context does not emerge particularly well from the comparison with other countries, this must be something of a reality check."

Co-operatives UK will also soon be publishing, in partnership with Mutual Ventures, a new step by step guide for public sector workers on how to spin off their work as a new co-operative enterprise. It will cover the benefits and risks of ‘spinning out’ to taking practical business, legal and financial steps to setting up an independent enterprise.

The full international review, Time to Get Serious: International Lessons for Developing Public Service Mutuals, is available to download now at www.uk.coop/serious.

Jonathan Bland is Managing Director of Social Business International, a consultancy that specialises in knowledge transfer and innovation in the field of social enterprise.