Member Article

North West mutuals win £200k government fund

Four North West mutuals have secured nearly £200,000 from the Government to help them spin out from the public sector.

The money will help public service mutuals that hope to move into the private sector, but continue to provide public services.

Knowsley Youth Services, Knowsley Youth Rights and Participation Services received £93,000 from the £1m government pot, which has been distributed between 21 emerging mutuals.

Oldham Borough Council also received £46,000 to further explore the option of mutualising its adult social care services, while Blackpool-based Spiral Health CIC was granted £45,000.

Blackpool Youth First, which will provide youth services for Blackpool Council, also received £10,000 of the investment.

Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude, unveiled the cash pot on Friday that has been delivered to 14 SMEs out of 21 contracts set out to tender.

The Cabinet Office added that an increasing number of bids have come from partnerships between SMEs who have combined their expertise to tender for contracts.

Mr Maude commented: “We know frontline public servants can run their services incredibly effectively as mutual businesses, improving productivity and efficiency.

“Our Mutuals Support Programme goes a long way to providing entrepreneurial staff with concrete support to realise their goal, whilst increasing opportunities for SMEs to win Government business.

“Just looking at the huge range of organisations and sectors we are supporting through this programme shows how widely the mutual model can successfully be applied.

“And momentum is growing – more and more entrepreneurial public servants want to take control of the services they provide, and we will continue to support them.”

Tracey Bush, chief executive of fund recipient, Spiral Health CIC, said: “Applying for support from the Mutuals Support Programme was quick and easy, and I’d encourage others interested in spinning out to take advantage of the help and advice available.

“Our £45,000 support package has enabled Spiral Health to have real evidence and grounding to start to grow and develop the business – it’s a really exciting time for all the staff involved.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .