Public Services Inside Out

A strong curb on public spending is high on the agenda for all political parties. Yet rising expectations and demographic changes, especially an ageing population, suggest that demand for more and better public services will continue to grow.  A move towards ‘personalised’ services is increasingly prominent in policy statements, while proving complex and difficult to realise in practice. Inequalities in health, wealth and income are wide and intractable.

Co-production can help to address these challenges.  It can connect public services with valuable community-based resources and open up opportunities for improving outcomes without increasing costs. It can help to build a preventative, person-centred and personalised approach to meeting needs. It can create sustainable change by developing and supporting local groups and networks. 

Public Services Inside Out looks at how ordinary people are working in partnership with the public sector to design and deliver their public services. From the parents who dedicate time to childcare co-operatives, to students in schools setting up their own activities and programmes and community justice boards, people are ‘co-producing’ their services across the UK, and beyond. It’s an exciting and innovative approach which strengthens relationships between users and professionals, and produces much more effective services that deliver sustainable change.

In order to make a truly constructive impact, co-production must now move out of the margins and into the mainstream of public service design and delivery. 

This is the second of three reports on co-production from a partnership between nef (the new economics foundation) and NESTA.

This publication is free: to order hard copies please call 0207 820 6300.