Pioneering youth service mutual gets green light
Neil Puffett
Monday, July 23, 2012
A London borough is poised to launch the first employee-led youth services mutual after the concept was rubberstamped by politicians.
Under the plans the youth service in Kensington and Chelsea will leave the council and become an employee-led mutual from April 2013.
In addition to continuing to deliver services to Kensington and Chelsea Council, the mutual will offer its provision to a range of organisations, and has so far won contracts with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, a London Primary Care Trust and a number of schools.
A total of 175 staff will transfer to the new organisation, each owning shares in the company and having a say in the way it is managed.
“We have built the service up over many years so that it is the best in London,” Elizabeth Campbell, cabinet member for family and children’s services in Kensington and Chelsea, said.
“But everyone understands the national financial situation. Rather than see the team stifled by year-on-year cuts, we have decided to free it so that it can trade its undoubted skill and experience to others.”
The government is keen for the concept of mutuals to catch on and the Cabinet Office has announced 22 mutual pathfinder projects since August 2010.
Of these 22 pilots, seven are exploring the delivery of all, or parts of, children’s services.
The Kensington and Chelsea mutual will operate four youth centres itself and will work out of several others run by the voluntary sector. It will also work directly with the community and provide guidance and support for 13-to 19-year-olds, such as intensive one-to-one work in music, sport, and education.