Government launches £1.7m public service mutuals fund
Joe Lepper
Friday, January 12, 2018
Youth service organisations will be among groups eligible to apply for a share of a £1.7m fund that has been launched to support public service mutuals.
Civil society minister Tracey Crouch has announced that a total of £1.2m will be made available by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to create new, or strengthen existing, public service mutuals. It is anticipated the pot will help pay for legal, financial, marketing, human resources and business planning advice.
An additional £500,000 in funding has been made available to pilot support progammes for public service mutuals, such as developing partnerships and helping to broaden the scope of their services. This money will also be used to create a mentoring scheme for newly formed mutuals as well as a peer support network.
Public service mutuals have become increasingly common in the youth sector in recent years.
In February last year public sector mutual DYS Space Ltd took over the running of youth services in Devon in a £5m deal.
The first youth services mutual to be established was Epic CIC, an employee-led organisation that separated from Kensington and Chelsea Council in 2014.
Knowsley Youth Mutual was also established to deliver youth services in the North West.
"Mutuals are run under the influence of employees to support the delivery of public services and we want to help them thrive," said Crouch.
"This £1.7m funding will deliver training, support programmes and mentoring to expand the high-quality services mutuals provide to communities across the country."
The first round of funding will be available until March 2020. All applicants must demonstrate their commitment by providing match funding, the DCMS has said.