2024 Cooperative Case Studies
- May 2024
- Lead Member Mutual Ventures
- Categories Health & Social Care
PossAbilities – a community-based organisation thriving in the adult social care market
Mutual Ventures, with support from fellow CCIN Affiliate Member Bates Wells, supported Rochdale Borough Council to create a Public Service Mutual for its adult social care day services in April 2014. That organisation, PossAbilities, is a thriving and growing organisation, evidencing that staff-led organisations that are ingrained in their local community can deliver high-quality and sustainable public services.
As part of the Council, Rochdale Adult Social Care team delivered a range of services for the local community, primarily for people with Learning Disabilities and Older People. However, with budgets under pressure the Council, in collaboration with the staff, decided there were a number of compelling reasons to create a Public Service Mutual, which was community-based and staff-owned, including:
- giving staff the empowerment to innovate in service delivery;
- enabling staff and service users to lead the service and determine how it is run;
- allowing any surplus to be reinvested for the benefit of the community; and,
- safeguarding jobs and the future of the service by allowing the organisation to grow.
Since ‘spinning-out’ as a staff-owned Public Service Mutual PossAbilities has trebled in size; achieved and retained an ‘outstanding’ CQC rating and is now delivering high-quality and person-centred services across the North West.
