The 2010 Open Public Services white paper set out a bold ambition to transfer one in six public service employees into employee-owned organisations (mutuals).
The number of public service mutuals remains stubbornly off target. Success stories exist: NAViGo provides health and social care in North East Lincolnshire, while People2People provides social work and occupational therapy services across Shropshire.
High profile failures draw more coverage, for example MyCSP was continually dogged by performance failures and most recently criticised by the National Audit Office and then there was the bankruptcy of Secure Healthcare that provided NHS care for prisoners.
