Public service ethos: the blending values of public and mutual organisations

The previous Labour and Coalition governments both promoted experimentation in mutual and social enterprise run services, a trend the current government continues. At the same time, complexity in the range of stakeholders and vehicles for public service delivery has led to calls for agencies to share a common public service ethos. John Maddocks and Jan Myers explore the combination of mutual and public to see if there is room for a blended approach, and if so who will benefit from it.