Equality and public services: five principles for a new approach

In the third in the Equality Exchange series of articles, Henry Kippin sets out his principles for a new approach to public services.

The British Council’s Equality Exchange collection brings together new perspectives on the role public services can play in fostering social and economic equality.  In it I argue that a more equal society cannot be imagined without strong and active public services – but these services must move with the times to reflect a challenging social, economic and political context.  We need a new debate about how this might happen in practice, or the negative impact of the austerity agenda will be profound.  Five starting points are below.  The full article can be found here.

1. Re-think the evidence base.  We need a better understanding of what drives inequality, and how public, private and social capital can be mobilised to combat it.  In south east London and Bristol, for example, in-depth analysis by the RSA shows how social networks can underpin patterns of inequality and determine access to power and resources; that unemployment and social isolation are often mutually reinforcing; that informal networks can sometimes be the best route into employment and entrepreneurship: that public policy interventions – although well intentioned – can sometimes work at odds with the grain of people’s social and economic lives on the ground.

2. Get beyond the services. We need to look beyond the traditional service lens and understand the role public agencies can play in promoting equality through making an impact on the cost and quality of living.  In Oldham for example, the local authority is using the idea of ‘co-operative’ working to actively engage the public and local private sector in issues such as financial inclusion, energy and transport costs and back-to-work services.  It hopes to position public services as long term social and economic partners for citizens – not just social providers of last resort.  Reciprocity and citizen agency are vital.

3. Co-produce with the community.  We need collaborative models of public service designed and delivered in partnership with communities – building on their assets and capabilities, and holding government and public agencies to account for mutually agreed outcomes.  Social enterprise Turning Point has pioneered this approach in areas such as Hartlepool in north-east England, generating a model of local integrated services – such as health, social care and housing – that is designed by the community. This is a practical example of what it means to have equal access to a relationship, not just a set of predetermined and delivered services.

4. Put the social back in.  A raft of recent research reminds us that we are social animals and that ‘society is good for your health’.  Yet the challenge is to plug this intuitive understanding into the way public services are designed and delivered.  Some innovations are emerging emerge, such as the ‘relational welfare’ approach of social business Participle, and the work organisations such as Shared Lives Plus are doing to ‘socialise’ the personalisation agenda through pooling individual budgets and creating micro-enterprises for social care.  By focusing too narrowly on individuals, the government risks missing the social drivers – and solutions – to inequality.

5. Link the public service reform and growth agendas.  Underpinning all of this is the need for a much closer relationship between public services and economic growth.  We cannot pretend that the goals of social and economic equality can be fostered by public services without a concurrent shift in the responsibility and social role of citizens, civil society and the private sector.  A new approach must actively explore the collaborative role these sectors can play to improve labour market conditions and reduce downstream demand for public resources.  This means addressing in-work poverty, labour market isolation, and unlocking the socially and economically productive capacity of communities.  The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that 6.1 million people classified as living in poverty are in working households. Polling from Ipsos MORI tells us that 68% of people are cutting back on household spending. The UK has the second largest share of low-paid work in the developed world.  Developing policy frameworks to address these stark realities should be a priority.

• Read the previous articles in the series by Neil McInroy on fairness through progressive public sector spending and David Boyle on equality, equity and choice