Slanking off

Last night the SEL team, board, members and friends turned out to say goodbye to SELite Matt Jarratt. You could argue that most of us would turn up for a drink to the opening of an envelope, but I think it's fair to say we all wanted to give Jarrett a good send-off. Matt has been an outstanding contributor to SEL in the three or so years he has been turning up. I can credit him with building our network to the largest social enterprise membership  in the country, to an astonishing 2,400 at the last count. We worked out last night that Matt has organised over 30 events for us, made innumerable friendships with stakeholders (sorry about that), got the message about social enterprise out there including setting up this blog for me (again apologies) and written Transitions, the UK's first and I would argue best guide to public-sector outsourcing. But perhaps most notably he has been a mate to us all – his constancy, diligence and unfailing humour (not  bad thing in a SEL member of staff) have been high octane in the SEL tank.

Matt and June consider the merits of Mei's choice of beer

In the tradition of leaving dos, last night we remembered the less than successful moments as, let's face it, they are always funnier in retrospect: like the time Matt organised a marketing conference in the Islington Design Centre where nearly twice the number of delegates we had hoped for turned up, which combined with allotting himself presenting and chairing roles through out the day led to plenty of Carry On Conferencing moments. Oh we laughed! Or the time he and Dom went to the SEL archives during our office move, which somehow ended up with Dom locked in the back of the van.

But all in all a job very well done. We wish you well Matt and will miss you, especially when it's time to get the next round in. But perhaps now would be a good time to apologise for that photo of you sporting a Kate Middleton face mask while clutching a pint at the Social Enterprise Awards or the one with you catching some downtime in your Slanket (see above) with the moniker 'Valerie', both posted on our website for the staff shot. Who knew you were applying for a posh job?

Talking of which, from next month Matt can be reached at the Fair Weather Rest Home for retired chiropodists located somewhere in the provinces where he will be acting night superintendent until they can find someone qualified. They got our best man.

On sticking together to work out which way to go

Adversity can bring out the best in people and having spent today in Birmingham with my fellow directors of England's social enterprise regions, I am glad to say some of the best people are in social enterprise. Having not found a good time to mention this, I was keeping quiet about my growing feeling that social enterprise has started to sing a little off key.

Big society is here to stay and it's time to get used to it: Guardian Public 09.03.11

Photo: Murdo Macleod

Despite opposition from both the left and right on the political spectrum, and a wealth of criticism from civil society leaders, there are reasons why the "big society" is here to stay.

Social enterprise is still a good news story

I wrote a piece for Social Enterprise Magazine today, featured on their homepage, which highlights an issue I think people need to hear about at the moment ...

Breaking out of the Bunker

In the last few weeks I have had a growing number of conversations with local authority leaders, CEO’s and officers interested in outsourcing. Driven by financial constraints local authorities of all political denominations are looking at social enterprise with renewed interest. What strikes me is how little they are able to talk to each other, their peers or anyone really, about their plans. There are often good reasons for this silence, such as due process and press management, but the result is folk making some very daunting decisions with minimal support or access to experienced advice.

Since SEL has set up the Transitions training which gives local authority staff that want to set up as standalone service providers advice and support, each session has been heavily oversubscribed. In fact we haven’t got any places left on the program until the 31st January which gives you some indication of the demand. Our consultants are all out and about meeting with local authority managers, and again one is struck by the innovative thinking that is being adopted by some boroughs, and also how hard it is for them to gain a sense of being part of a growing movement.

Well having just come from yet another bunker, full of lovely people doing their utmost to “ac-cent-uate the positive and e-lim-inate the negative” I am here to report that other than the handful of boroughs touting the line “War, what war?” the vast majority are planning to outsource a significant number of services. You cannot predict which boroughs by their politics, nor can you predict which services, I have been surprised on both counts. But this year is going to see a fundamental shift away from direct provision which in my view will dwarf the changes we saw after the introduction of Compulsory Competitive Tendering.

My hope is that as folk start emerging into the light they will be reassured by the company they keep, and in the meantime I at least can say, “you are not alone.”

If money is too tight to mention, what can we talk about?

Necessity, as we know, is the mother of invention. Talking in recent weeks to London's local authority chief executives about their challenge to slash costs and mitigate the impact on service users and staff, I ask, can you do that and improve services?

It is unfortunate but perhaps inevitable that the greatest opportunity to innovate public services since their inception, comes when money's too tight to mention. As one local authority chief recently told me: "It's like trying to surf a tsunami, if we can hold on we might make it, but if we lose control, we'll go under." So is this really a good time to talk about social enterprise? Or would that make me the air stewardess trying to flog perfume during the emergency landing?

To put my view in context, I believe that inefficiencies are created when the government acts as buyer, seller and quality controller of services. It invariably gives the thumbs up to its own standards, errs on the side of generosity in setting prices and ends up paying more than it should. Into this Trinitarian formula we need at least one or two independent players. This does not devolve responsibility for provision from government, but it does allow them to design, purchase and assess services very differently.

Everywhere government is looking to save money by cutting and outsourcing, but before we scramble for the exits, can I offer the attractive alternative to privatisation? Social enterprise. Prioritising employee led services clearly run for the 'profit' of service users, not shareholders, reduces cost. These companies can put a value on staff by-in through such things as absenteeism, which is lower in social enterprise than the private and certainly public sectors. Greater efficiency de facto drives down cost and can improve quality.

Existing social entrepreneurs, like veterans, represent a real asset in these trying times. Mark Sesnan, managing director of GLL, and recent Government Pathfinder appointee, told me: "It feels like the 1980s when councils had to make big cuts, closing services everywhere, but we know now what we didn't know then, that there is an alternative in social enterprise."

It makes sense to work with and build on models like GLL which could collaborate on other forms of service delivery. After all, if leisure services can be successfully delivered the social enterprise way, why not libraries, or schools or children's services?

Social Enterprise London's recent publication Transitions, distributed across the public sector, and mentioned on Stephen Bubb's blogg this week, illustrates how services delivered by social enterprises have saved money, improved standards and achieved additional social impact. For example 'profit' in GLL, the UK's largest leisure social enterprise has been used to provide training for hundreds of long term unemployed young people. HCT bus services has similarly created local jobs and even a harm reduction bus that supports drug user rehabilitation. Ironically by making this about people not money, costs can be cut.

Conversely when private companies deliver state sponsored services they might or might not do a good job but they will always maximise profit, shareholders will be prioritised over service improvement or staff working conditions, and risk alongside responsibility will be upwards managed back to the state, a process reflected in the cost.

But what really matters is not the governance model but social impact and sustainability of the new provider. They will need governance that enables them to structure their finances so that they can deliver services that are paid for by results or have come through personal budgets, because these will be the new forms of payment. They will need to attract and retain the best staff and borrow because, even with a three or five year contract, they will have to expand to compete and survive. But it is possible to do all that and offer staff a stake in the business as Sunderland Homecare Associates does, or involve users in service design like Your Healthcare in Kingston, in effect, be social enterprises.

There are difficulties, however. The central message of big society, that people can do things for themselves, seems to have left public service providers to work out, on their own, what it means for them. Investment in sharing best practice has been cut alongside everything else, leading to reactive decision-making and lost opportunity.

So how can we shape the amorphous message of big society into a step-by-step transition where social enterprise emerges as the new service provider of choice? As Annie Francis of Independent Midwives UK says: "Government must introduce smarter, faster and more effective business support and encourage public services to genuinely engage with the [social enterprise] sector".

I urge the widespread distribution of Transitions and take up of its recommendation to work with local social entrepreneurs to establish champions and spread the word. With leadership that encourages people to chase savings alongside social impact I believe we can have a happy landing, even if it's been a bloody bumpy ride.

Published article in this weeks Guardian Public online

Making a transition

This week SEL held its first Transitions training for public sector staff to learn more about setting their service up as a social enterprise. Hot on the heels of our Transitions document launched three weeks ago this might be the first form of training of its kind and as such I really wanted to know how it went. Our Matt Jarratt put the program together and carried out the training on Wednesday and so I have asked him to tell us all about it her on my blog. So Matt whenever you're ready....

"Social enterprise used to be accused (by those who knew little about it) of being harmless, ‘all things to all people’ and a fluffy sideline to the real business of running business and public services. Not anymore. Now it’s subject to the full glare of public scrutiny as our movement is asked to step up and deliver arguably the most radical reforms to public services since 1948.

However whilst the ideas around public services being re-established as social enterprises are bold and well stated, what’s been lacking, in our eyes, is a service which really gets into the nuts and bolts of how and why a social enterprise emerging from the public sector actually works.

What are the implications for the strategy and management of the service? Does it really create efficiencies? How does a social enterprise model of delivery impact staff, communities, other services within the council and, most importantly the people who use the service? How can the chutzpah and entrepreneurialism of the social enterprise movement be developed and harnessed through what will almost always be a convoluted, sometimes controversial development process?

To address this, SEL has developed Transitions, a training package for local authorities exploring these issues in detail, and on Wednesday we delivered it for the first time.

Aimed at local authority workers (of all levels), it’s an intensive introduction to social enterprise – it includes detailed policy context, the attributes of the entrepreneur, the challenges associated with the approach, and (the bulk of the course), a step by step guide to establishing a social enterprise business out of a public service department.

As the author of the training (as well as the accompanying Transitions guide, launched last month), I must admit I was very relieved that the 11 senior local authority managers who came appeared to find the session valuable. Its 6 ½ hours of hefty, at times challenging material. Creating a new business out of a local authority department requires the energy and spirit to take on an often strong headwind of legislation and early opposition; a clear eyed focus on the impact of the move on staff and service users; the confidence to take independent advice; the rigour to understand and develop the market and the vision to develop an outstanding service. We cover all these things, it’s fun and exciting to deliver, but not necessarily comfortable.

But that seems to me to be the point – social enterprise isn’t comfortable. The most successful social enterprises are run by people who don’t take ‘no’ for an answer, who set a clear vision and deliver on it, and who exploit the market in order to deliver on sometimes extraordinarily challenging social aims.

Social enterprise isn’t right for every public department or individual, and we are careful in the training to emphasise that we’re not dogmatically attached to social enterprise for its own sake. What we are attached to is the principle that decisions on this should be taken on merit and projected outcome (following careful research and consultation), not on ideology or principle.

After a few necessary tweaks to the structure, SEL is now going to deliver Transitions to however many local authorities and local authority workers are keen to receive it. Exciting times."

Family, friends and other animals

My Mother rang this morning with sad news. A very close member of the family, my Father's life long friend, John Hughes, died last night. John and his family were always a part of our lives and both he and his friendship with Dad were legendary. They were both characters that lived life to the full. John was the local vet, my dad the GP and their kindly ministries just about covered the needs of the village. When I was about Katie’s age, I remember them staying up all night to attend to my guinea pigs that had been attacked by the neighbour’s dog. This was, of course, the perfect excuse for them to drink all night, but when I awoke in the morning to news of Posy’s death (Rosie made it), having them both there made all the difference. Funnily enough I was thinking about John last night whilst listening to my friend Stephen Bubb, of acevo and Martin Brookes of New Pilanthropy Capital, slugging it out on Radio 4. Martin reckoned people should make moral judgements about how they give their money with children taking precedence, over say, ballet. Stephen talked of his 98 year old Auntie, fond of giving to animal charities, who would take a very dim view of being lectured to do otherwise. I thought of Val, John’s lovely wife who died 4 years ago and who requested that instead of flowers we all gave to her favourite donkey sanctuary. John and Val really loved animals, living in a veritable Noah’s Ark for most of their lives. Each to their own ehh?

The dreary thing about age is the accumulation of goodbye’s in contrast to the diminishing hello's. This process is supposed to make us wiser and kinder but it doesn’t alway work. Listening to people talk of the Big Society or the Good Society, I think of my upbringing. My father, Dr Bill Ogden dedicated his whole life to public service. As a GP he was not brilliantly well paid and worked extraordinarily long hours, doing night duty for the majority of his 50 year career. He was still doing visits on the day he died, aged 76. The services he provided included over 1000 homebirths, helping those less able to keep up with their paper work so that they could maintain independent lives, performing minor operations at the local cottage hospital and always, always taking responsibility. In retirement he moved to an urban London practice to teach, which he loved, but he did not agree with the increasingly risk averse culture that saw GP’s referring minor ops, like ingrown toenails, and felt that the move away from GP home visits increased the distance between doctor and patient.

I wonder what Dad would make of social enterprise in health care? I think he would like it as he preferred models that prioritised responsibility and enabled medical practitioners to make real connections to patients. Today we have a really good piece in Social Enterprise with Francis Maude Minister to the Cabinet Office visiting Central Surrey Health. They are a great social enterprise who have innovated health care and offer a cost effective service. Francis is quoted as saying he wants to see the majority of health services delivered in that way in 10 to 15 years time and if the Government can support the transition so that neither patients nor staff lose out, (pensions, commissioning etc) I think he may get his wish.

Our latest contribution to this debate is Transitions, which as Third Sector reports this week is flying out the door with over 4000 going out and agencies like the National Audit Office loading it up to their data base. I am off now to meet yet another local authority CEO, my 3rd this week, to look at Transitions and see where they can use it within the council strategy to meet the demands of austerity and outsourcing. Some think we are advocating privatisation and I am quite clear that we are not. At present local authorities have two stark choices, cut and kill or privatise. The social enterprise lobby are offering a third possibility, that of outsourcing to a staff led/owned entity that maximises social value, looks and feels like a public service but offers value for money and a significant degree of mutual independence. I think of Dad, pouring John a scotch just about now, and I think he’d approve.

Transitions - is just the job

Last night we launched our public sector route map to social enterprise called 'Transitions'. We did the deed at London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), a leading childcare social enterprise and the deed was done by Sir Steve Bullock Mayor of Lewisham and Derek Myers CEO at Kensington and Chelsea.
I knew that both men supported the idea of social enterprise as i had spoken to them about it, but I was delighted at how positive they were.  In the maelstrom of cuts they held out the hope, that I wholeheartedly agree with, that social enterprise is a good idea with a lot going for it. Derek said he spent most of his working day talking about reducing things and cutting them, he went on to say that if he could spend only 1 per cent of his day talking about building something or growing it, that would be a very good thing.  He pointed to social enterprise in his borough as the place he expected to have those conversations.

Steve similarly was alive to the difficulties Lewisham faced but told us that he had already been knobbled by a member of his staff who knew he was speaking at our event, who had a really exciting idea, he too thought this was real progress.

When I spoke I warned that this is not for everyone, that it is diffcult, but for the small minority of folk with passion for public service and an entrepreneurial zeal, like the inspirational ceo at LEYF, June O'Sullivan who talked of costs saved and standards raised, it is just the job.

I was delighted with the evening and Transitions, both of which mark a step forward for us and the debate on the role of social enterprise in public service delivery.

Twitter, tweets and chickens

As I hinted in previous blogs, I intend to introduce some life changes. Although I love every bit of my life (well most of it), the tension between giving the rapidly expanding world of social enterprise the dedication it needs and being there for my brood (and I can see the irony there) means that something has to give. The first victims of this rationalisation have been our chickens (Seen above). This weekend we said good bye to our feathered friends. Protests have been vocal, particularly from third born, animal lover extraordinaire. However the dear old chooks needed heaps of care, several times a day and a big clean at the weekend which never quite liberated my garden from the inevitable emblems of good luck. So when we were offered a foster farm in Northamptonshire who collects rare breeds (Our ladies were a class act), we jumped at the chance. Frankly I am relieved, they were lovely and the eggs were great but even jobs that only take a few minutes a day, like calories, add up in a bad way.
Maintaining the feathered theme I want to speak out in support of Twitter. I am no dab hand at technology, as anyone who knows me will confirm, usually with a snort, but I think Twitter it great. It is fresh, uncensored, informative and absolutely genuine dialogue. Through Twitter I have a sense of what is going on in the social enterprise world Globally, and it’s all done without taking itself too seriously. Those who use it well do so with tongue in cheek, you can spot those who do it as duty because it’s all information with no attitude.

I know it’s not for everyone but I think Twitter and social networking is a very important part of the future of our movement. Association and the freedom to form collective opinions and share views has always been our rock bed, but now you don’t need to be part of the in-crowd to get in. All that I find out I share and there are plenty of others like me. Between us all momentum grows very quickly and we can not only generate interest but also distribute information and create actual non virtual interaction. People log on and then turn up. As example would be our Transition’s document that is going to be launched tonight. Through Twitter people have found out about both the launch and the piece itself. They have been able to express their views, unedited and join in a conversation about the opportunities and threats of social enterprises entering the public sector outsourcing debate en mass. Our venue tonight for the launch is the wonderful social enterprise, the London Early Years Foundation in Westminster which, like all venues, has limited space. The event itself is hopelessly oversubscribed which is not surprising as we have Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham and Derek Myers, CEO at Kensington and Chelsea giving us a cross party launch. Social enterprise has the unique ability to operate across party politics. Twitter has the unique ability to allow anyone, be they in Wapping or Waikiki to join in. Needless to say Matt will be Twittering for SEL (SocEntLdn) and Dom (DomPotter) and I (aogdennewton) will be Twittering up a storm on our own accounts, so one way or the other see you all there!

Transition avoiding the North face

On Friday SEL's new publication Transitions became available on line. It has already been downloaded several thousand times, a number that should increase as the document is now listed by the National Audit Office. We are waiting to see which public bodies will distribute it to their staff and what comes from those conversations. For me it is a fascinating process and interestingly one that would have been unthinkable without the imperative for change we're now faced with. I hope to be able to take part in some of those deliberations.

Transitions launches next Tuesday evening at London Early Years Foundation HQ in Westminster. With keynote speeches from Sir Steve Bullock (Mayor of Lewisham), Derek Myers (CEO of Kensington & Chelsea Council) and June O'Sullivan (LEYF CEO), it should be an absorbing evening - book your place here, there are still a couple left.

By producing Transitions, it’s associated training programme and creating the Transition Institute, a forum of experts to provide the strategic thinking behind an ideal social value program, SEL are doing their bit to make sure change means change for the better. My job is to keep my eye on the horizon and make sure that our advice is sensible, articulate and constructive without slipping into group hug rhetoric or alientating the very people upon whom the success of this process depends.

The principles for social enterprise remain the same - it's inspiring but complex, it can deliver so much but only if everyone involved in the process understands what it’s about and someone, somewhere has to be prepared to make an investment, so the idea has to be a good one.

Yesterday I met with yet another local authority CEO to talk about social enterprise and the remodelling of public service delivery and then went on to participate in Lambeth Council’s ongoing dialogue around becoming a cooperative council. I am one of the participating commissioners and have found the process absolutely fascinating. Yesterday we met Barry Quirk CEO at Lewisham Council and author of the landmark Quirk Review, and Ben Page, CEO of Ipsos MORI and pollster extraordinaire. Frankly I could have listened to them both all day, gripping stuff. Fellow commissioner, Richard Bridge of Waterloo Community Coalition, with only a partial tongue in cheek wondered if once our final report has been submitted, whether we would be able to apply for a masters degree at the end of all of this, given the quality of the presentations and discussions, which have been superb and absolutely of the moment.

The debate is on defining the nature of ‘community’, scoping the appetite for engagement and setting the agenda for change. I salute Lambeth’s approach to this issue and I have to say the programme they have outlined for themselves shows real vision. Barry and Ben (there's a joke there somewhere) gave considered, and highly informed views on the issues. The discussions themselves are subject to Chatham House rules but the gist of prioritising function over form and social engagement run throughout. Ben’s stats were really thought provoking as was his deadpan delivery on what separates opinions, attitudes and values. He told the group that people changed their opinions quite frequently, but their attitudes were more entrenched and as for values, those are the foundations upon which people build their lives, and are for the most part fixed. So are we hoping to change people’s opinions, attitudes or values? The latter being an attempt to take the summit by the North face.

But that's the point isn’t it? Those of us that advocate community based business models are trying to engage people’s values and sometimes change their opinions, at least if they think that social value and profit are oil and water. We know that they can work for mutual benefit, and I for one am looking forward to showing people how.