Employee-owned model the future for public services

Published by ClareLydon for GovToday in Central Government and also in Local Government

In an exclusive interview with Govtoday Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, the oldest and largest co-owned business in the UK, discusses the importance of utilising innovative business models to reshape the way our public services are delivered and create greater business efficiency throughout the UK.

Following the announcement (yesterday) of a rise in their profits by 20%, John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is extremely well placed to advise on this issue. The company has been selected to participate in a government initiative designed to support entrepreneurial public sector staff that want to take control of their services. The scheme, known as the Pathfinder Mutuals initiative, will see JLP mentor a number of public service spin-offs interested in transferring to an employee-owned structure.

The company will also have a seat on the Cabinet Office's Mutuals Task Force – the group established to drive the necessary changes to policy across Whitehall to enable these ambitions to become a reality.

Mr Mayfield is clear on JLP’s role:

“While the Partnership is hugely engaged in supporting public sector staff transfer to an employee-owned structure, we do not see our role as advising on public sector reform. We’re simply keen to share our experience of employee ownership and in doing so help to identify enablers and barriers to success.”

With the Prime Minister due to outline his plans for public sector reform imminently the public sector cannot afford to ignore the possibility that doing business differently could be the answer to improving our public services whilst achieving the required efficiency savings.

You can read the full interview at www.govtoday.co.uk

Govtoday is an unrivalled media platform dedicated to delivering the latest news and views from across all fields of government through an on-going programme of events and interactive online communications.