REDP: Public enthusiastic to join the 'Big Society', but put off by time constraints and red tape

Regional Equality & Diversity Partnership

Public enthusiastic to join the 'Big Society', but put off by time constraints and red tape

Date: 25/11/2010
Summary: A new report by PwC and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) shows there is real appetite from local people to get more involved in designing and delivering public services.

It also shows that as the Government begins the task of cutting £81 billion from total spending by 2014/15, 90 per cent of people believe that the state should remain primarily responsible for delivering most key public services.

The report draws on new poll data and in-depth deliberative research, gathering evidence in two very different towns - Reading and Darlington - through discussions with both frontline professionals and service users on the handing over of the design and delivery of public services to ordinary citizens. The research focused on three service areas: education, public safety and social care. Within these areas, the research showed a real willingness to do more, for example:

42% of people were willing to attend a regular meeting with their neighbourhood police team and 18% would be willing to volunteer at a police station;
20% of people would be willing to make a regular commitment to mentor a child struggling through the education system and 18% would be willing to become a school governor;
46% said they were willing to keep an eye on an elderly neighbour and 33% of people said they would regularly drive an elderly person to the shops.

Nick Pearce, IPPR’s director, said

“The Big Society idea has been mocked in some quarters, but this research shows the public is keen to get more involved in public services. But it is a mistake as well to think that if only ‘big government’ gets out of the way, the ‘Big Society’ will flourish. In our research we found that very often people wanted more not less help from public agencies in order to give them the skills and confidence to be more active citizens. It’s also true that the public have a clear idea that the state is primarily responsible for delivering services. People want to get involved so that they can improve those services, not take over the running of them. For instance, just two per cent of respondents said they’d be willing to set up their own school.”

The research also shows that the barriers to entry can vary across the different sectors. Social care is already undertaken at a high level by family members and friends, but time seems to be a key barrier to volunteers in this area. In education, potential participants expressed frustration at the levels of red-tape that need to be navigated in order to help out and a lack of co-ordinated communication by the professional bodies currently providing these services. Public safety volunteers are perhaps unsurprisingly held back by a simple fear for their own well-being, as well as a fear of opening themselves up to potential litigation should they become involved in preventing a crime from taking place.

In addressing these barriers, the report suggests solutions including incentives such as credits and awards for time spent helping others, introducing time banking (a system whereby citizens are awarded credits that they can exchange elsewhere for the time they spend helping in the community), training champions, and insurance schemes.

Alongside the barriers put up by the citizens themselves, it is clear there needs to be a major shift in the state’s role and purpose at all levels. National and local government need to see one of their main tasks as placing people and communities in the driving seat.

To view the report, please click here

Source: PwC

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