The role of mutuals in public service innovation

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The agenda to increase the involvement of mutual organisations and employee ownership in public service delivery has been of growing policy importance over the past five years but increasingly so for the current Coalition Government, which has raised expectations of the potential of mutuals as organisational vehicles for innovation and improved productivity. This study aims to provide a rigorous evidence base concerning the role of spin-out mutual (i.e. employee owned) organisational forms in promoting innovation in public services in the UK. It does this by examining the types of innovations involved and their effectiveness as perceived by users and other stakeholders. The study will answer a key question regarding innovation in public sector delivery, focusing on efforts to further develop this agenda by the current Coalition Government. There is a need for closer examination of the extent to which spin out mutuals are able to unleash entrepreneurialism, creativity and innovation in public service delivery, and to identify what are the crucial facilitating factors and barriers to innovations. There is also a need to assess the perceived impact of initiatives on different stakeholders, recognising that innovation involves risk and may involve unintended negative impacts, as well as gainsThis study is therefore aimed at providing a high quality evidence base for policy makers and others. The research will focus on mutual organisational forms in health and social care, comparing recent experience with those of longer established mutuals in leisure services. The findings will contribute new knowledge on the role of employee and user involvement in introducing innovative approaches to meeting service needs and the role of local contexts and external support providers. The methods will involve: 1. A systematic review of the literature: to build on interdisciplinary understanding and insights from relevant literatures on the public sector, mutualisation and employee-owned organisational forms, and service/social innovation. 2. Mapping of the employee owned-enterprise sector: a systematic analysis of existing data sets on mutuals, co-operatives and other third sector organisations involved in public service delivery. A new data set will be generated from existing databases which will serve to identify the key sectors and sample of organisations for the field research.3. Interviews with key stakeholders: at national level, including key policy actors, commissioners, trade unions etc in different regions and sectors. 4. Surveys with mutual organisations: 30 mutuals in health and social care and in leisure services will be selected to represent a range of organisational types and activities. For each organisation, interviews will be conducted with senior and other staff members, support providers, users/beneficiaries, commissioners, unions and other key stakeholders.Knowledge exchange has been embedded in the design of the project through consultation with all stakeholders during its preparation, and the assembly of a research team that combines experienced researchers, policy thinkers and support providers. The research is designed to have a direct impact on practice and policy as well as academic understanding of the processes of innovation public service delivery.