How can new models of Basic Income provide not only a safety net for those who need it but also a springboard to a better life? Talk about the concept of universal basic income (UBI) and the various models that are emerging in different parts of the world is becoming increasingly mainstream. The pressures of […]
The recent review into Sure Start children’s centres offers a window into a complex system: early years services. They were designed to bring a range of such service sunder one roof and improve access, often in the more disadvantages communities in the UK. Indeed, in my local government role I sat on a board for a […]
“Probation is a complex social service, and it has proved well-nigh impossible to reduce it to a set of contractual requirements.” Such was the conclusion of HM Chief Inspector of Probation when the government announced this week that they were re-nationalising the delivery of some probation services. If outsourcing led to improved outcomes at lower […]
How can we change the welfare system to help people solve their individual challenges? We’ve been exploring how a basic income could change the way welfare works. We wanted to see how a basic income could be designed in way that helps create a community that supports people. This needed us to hear people’s voices […]
Today, Human Rights Watch vividly illustrate the rise of foodbank use in the UK. In their first work on the right to food in a “rich democracy”, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report Nothing Left in the Cupboards says: “The right to food is a fundamental human right contained in several international treaties to which […]
“Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people to give them hope. But I don’t want your hope, I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic, I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act, I want you to act as if you […]
“Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people”.1 Greta Thunburg Such were the words spoken before the World Economic Forum in January by a […]
If public services are going to meet the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous demands of the 21st Century they need to be redefined and redesigned with resilience at their heart. Seeking change by only invoking the big levers of institutions – policy, economic, legal, and so forth – will only get us so far, opening […]
Innovation and the public sector are often seen to be in opposition, yet the caricature of a creaking bureaucracy is largely false. In the face of increasing demand, rising citizen expectations, decreasing budgets and accelerating technological change, the public sector continues to innovate. New, improved or reconfigured policy, products, ways of working and processes are […]
The future of our public services and the role they play in a society where citizens, businesses and governments work together to address the challenges facing society is a crucial debate, perhaps never more so. It is clear that a policy of more of the same is not a sustainable option: our current systems and […]
Government spends more than £250bn of taxpayers money every year, providing services, fixing problems or improving communities up and down the land. The risks of getting it wrong are high profile, destructive and far reaching. The benefits of getting it right include improved quality of life, innovation and value for money. In this two-part blog […]
Government spends more than £250bn of taxpayers money every year, providing services, fixing problems or improving communities up and down the land. The risks of getting it wrong are high profile, destructive and far reaching. The benefits of getting it right include improved quality of life, innovation and value for money. In this two-part blog […]
Ian Burbidge 