All frontline staff given right to run services

A new initiative to give frontline staff the right to run public services is set to be rolled out by government, cabinet office minister Francis Maude announced today.

Maude said employers would be ‘expected to accept’ proposals from frontline staff who want to set up mutuals under the Right to Provide initiative.

The new initiative is across all government departments, unlike the first initiative of this kind, Right to Request, which was for NHS staff only. However, areas such as defence and security may be exempt.

Prisons, Sure Start Children’s Centres, hospitals and the civil service are some of the examples given of public services that could be taken over. Maude said it was taking power away from Whitehall and giving it to professionals, who would have the freedom to do things better.

According to the cabinet office, evidence shows that when employees have a stake in their organisation absenteeism plummets and productivity soars by as much as 19 per cent.

The mutual proposals will be expected to deliver savings to the taxpayer and maintain or improve the quality of services. In some instances staff forming a mutual will be awarded a contract to continue providing services rather than having to go through the full tender process. 

In a speech made today at The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, where staff are developing plans to mutualise youth services, Maude said: ‘This is part of the Big Society approach to public service reform, devolving power to people on the front line who know how things can be done better.

'The right to provide will challenge traditional public service structures and unleash the pent up ideas and innovation that has been stifled by bureaucracy. It will also put power at a local level so public services will be answerable to the people that use them.

‘When staff are given a stake in shaping services productivity and efficiency has been shown to improve dramatically. We must not be afraid to take bold decisions that will help create better public services at a time when there is less money to go round.’

Maude also unveiled new support for public service ‘spin-outs’ building on the government’s Pathfinder programme – 12 organisations helping government learn about structures and the support needed for employee-led service delivery organsisations.

It includes:

• over £10m to help the best fledgling mutuals reach investment readiness,
• a new information line and web service for interested staff, provided by Local Partnerships, the Employee Ownership Association and Co-ops UK; and
• a ‘challenge group’ involving employee-ownership experts including, John Lewis Partnerships, to investigate ways to improve regulation.

Maude also announced that Circle Healthcare, an employee-owned social enterprise and Europe’s largest partnership of clinicians, as the newest Pathfinder organisations, taking the total number in the programme to 13.

It will give 900 NHS staff on secondment the chance to become co-owners of Circle without losing their NHS employment rights.

Maude said: ‘I believe that in a decade’s time employee-owned mutuals will be one of the major types of organisation providing excellent public services.’

• The third wave of Right to Request organisations has also been announced. Click HERE to read our story.