It is now five years since Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, expressed an intention to move a million public sector workers into new employee mutuals.    Since that time the number has been 35,000 in about 100 new organisations covering £1bn in public spending.  

So it is correct, as some in local government are, to write off public services mutuals (PSMs) as ‘one of those glamourous ideas that comes along now and again’ as APSE’s Paul O’Brien said in MJ (16/4/15).

I would say no for three important reasons.   Firstly, many of the new mutuals are coming from local government.  Libraries in York and Suffolk.  Social care services in Warrington, Leeds and Salford.   Museums in Wrexham.   Park Rangers in Wycombe.  School Support Services in Hammersmith and Fulham.  Youth Services in Kensington and Chelsea.   Examples abound in every area of council activity.  Mutuals may be few in overall number but they are often proving the business model of choice because traditional alternative delivery vehicle, the Local Authority Trading Company (LATCO) cannot make the numbers.