Summary

This policy briefing contains presentations from experts who explain their experiences of applying mutual and social enterprise models to the wider society.

Mutual and social enterprise models are a recognised way of engaging staff in the ownership of change and innovation. An increased focus from media and from politicians on ‘employee ownership’, ‘mutual ownership’, ‘co-operatives, and ‘social enterprise’, has lead to questions around how employee ownership can be used to give public sector staff greater ownership and control over their work, how services are delivered and how their organisation is run.

Not only are mutuals and social enterprise being hailed as the future of public service delivery, public sector staff are being encouraged to 'spin out' from the state to sell their services back. The Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude MP, has announced a number of 'pathfinder' spin out mutuals ranging from heath, housing and children's service to empower public sector workers to become their own boss and help them to deliver better services.

 Learning outcomes

This briefing provides you with leading presentations and research papers on the future of social enterprise. Users will:

• Listen to authoritative and authentic content from people leading change, including the Cabinet Office Minister leading public sector reform
• Understand the rationale behind change
• Learn about the enterprise development journey
• Use a case study review to learn how one organisation implemented change and the valuable lessons learned
• Gain a wider understanding from leading websites and information centres provided
• Understand the terminology and implications behind the spinout pathfinder mutuals