How does a council go about creating a successful company? Craig Dearden-Phillips sets out the key points to follow when embracing a commercial culture

Commercialism in councils has been growing steadily since 2010. Although data is patchy – we know that about 30 councils have or plan to set up trading companies for their social care services – it is clear that more councils are setting up new businesses than ever before. These tend to come in different forms: private sector partnerships or joint-ventures, (such as those which 10 English councils have formed with Public Sector Plc to leverage council estates), public service mutuals (such as Thurrock Lifestyle Solutions CIC) or local authority trading companies, such as Optalis (Wokingham).

Shared services between councils normally take the form of a publicly-owned company – eg LGSS, owned jointly by Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire CCs.