Press Story

Key findings from a survey of over two thousand UK adults show that:

While 82% of people think communities should do more to tackle crime, 93% look to the state to keep them safe
While over half (53%) support being given personal budgets for social care, 66% think the state is ultimately responsible for looking after elderly relatives
While 41% support parents being able to set up schools, 93% see the state continuing to be the main provider of education
While 76% agreed that individuals today are less willing to take personal responsibility over issues that affect their own lives only 5% disagreed

In addition, the survey also showed that the public believe that the state should take the lead in supplying and paying for services in a number of other areas:

94% said the state should be most responsible for providing health care, compared to just 1% who said this should be left to individuals and families. 86% said the state should be most responsible for paying for the care needs of elderly people, compared to 8% who think this should be left to individuals and families.
72% said that the state should be most responsible for ensuring that people have enough to live on in retirement, whereas 20% said it should be the responsibility of individuals.

The report also highlights challenges to the successful involvement of citizens in 'co-production' of services, these include:

The capability and capacity of ordinary people to be more involved: If the public are to play a greater role in producing services, communities must have the capacity (in terms of social capital, energy, time and commitment) to respond.
The changing role of citizens: While there are benefits to increasing citizen and community involvement in public services, the extent to which people are actually willing to get involved is less clear-cut. There is a danger of a 'tyranny of the usual suspects', with those of lower-economic status being less involved.
The changing role of the state: A shift to services co-produced with citizens will not just require communities taking on more responsibility, it will also require the state to change the way it works.
The changing role of professionals: Greater community involvement in public services will also require professionals to change the way they work. Public service staff, and the professional bodies that oversee them, will have to be convinced of the benefits of 'co-production' and given incentives and rewards to work in this way.

Dame Julie Mellor, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, commented:

"Building more capable communities, at its heart, is about developing a new set of relationships between citizens and the state. It is a demanding agenda since it requires citizens and the providers of public services to change the way they engage with each other. Increased citizen participation and a willingness by the state to give responsibility back to individuals, families and communities is critical but the evidence suggests that on its own this is not enough: citizens must receive more support in their new-found roles if community empowerment is to make a real difference to the public service reform agenda."

Guy Lodge, Associate Director, ippr says:

"With ever greater emphasis being placed on getting the most out of public services, citizen empowerment potentially offers a way of combining greater efficiency with improved standards. Our research shows the public are hungry to get involved, but not at the price of the state absenting itself and leaving individuals and civil society to get on with it. Moreover, many people lead very busy lives, so they are only going to convert their interest into action if they can see that their involvement will make a real difference. This is now the challenge for all the political parties in taking this agenda forward."

Contacts:

Katherine Howbrook, media relations, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Tel: 020 7212 2711, Mobile: 07515 119 096, Email: Katherine.j.howbrook@uk.pwc.com

Tim Finch, ippr, 020 7470 6106 / 07595 920 899 / t.finch@ippr.org