It is coming up to five years since the Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude set out an ambition for a million public sector workers to move into ‘public service mutuals’.   How has this agenda played out since then in local government and what is it future beyond the next General Election.

Taking the one million target at face value, the mutuals agenda has yet to achieve critical mass.  Today there are about a hundred new public service mutuals which together employ 35,000 people and account for £1.5bn in total public spending.   About half of the mutuals come from the NHS and central government but the largest number now come from local government.  

Many of the new and emerging mutuals, such as in Leeds, Rochdale and Warrington, are to be found in adult social care but other sectors also figure prominently, notably culture, libraries, leisure, school support, youth and community sectors.