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  • Lead Member 0.Co-operative Councils Innovation Network CCIN
  • Participating Members Billingham Town Council, Burntwood Town Council, Kirklees Council, Peopletoo, Plymouth City Council, Preston City Council, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, South Ribble Borough Council, Stevenage Borough Council, Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, Telford and Wrekin Council, Torbay Council
  • Year 2022
  • Status Policy Labs

Principles met

  • Co-production

    We will develop systems that enable citizens to be equal partners in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.

  • Innovation

    We will embrace innovation in how we work with local communities to drive positive change.

  • Learning

    We will capture and ‘expand’ the experience and learning from individual projects and approaches in order to encourage broader application of co-operative principles within individual member Councils and across the Network.

  • Maximising social value

    We will support the development of a framework and criteria for social value, giving substance to the concept and supporting Councils with the tools to ensure better local social and economic outcomes.

  • New models of meeting priority needs

    In exploring new ways of meeting the priority needs of our communities we will encourage models, such as co-operatives and mutuals, which give greater influence and voice to staff and users. in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.

About the project

In 2020 we devoted our innovation funding to the health and social care crisis, seeking to develop creative co-operative solutions to the challenges being faced. 

Member councils were offered the opportunity to bid for funding to deliver Policy Prototypes. The aim was to demonstrate how the CCIN’s Statement of Values and Principles can support the develop solutions to local challenges across social care (both children and adults), as well as the wider well-being of communities.

These Policy Prototypes did not seek to respond to the entirety of the health and social care crisis facing Local Authorities. They were an opportunity to think creatively about specific areas where using the co-operative principles can provide a framework for innovative solutions that could be developed and then shared across the wider Network.

In 2021 Peopletoo, an Affiliate Member was commissioned to analyse the findings of 15 of the Health and Social Care Policy Prototypes that had been funded by the Network.  The key output from this commission is the production of the ‘Cooperative Difference in Care’ report.  This report highlights the different approaches to co-operative working and how different organisations can include co-operative principles in their ways of working.  The wide variety of work undertaken by the projects places a spotlight on how the co-operative principles can be applied to create new and effective ways of working, to help support communities and become part of a solution to the care crisis.  This report highlights the significant amount of learning that can be taken from the projects supported by the CCIN, the global and local contexts, along with academic research.  

It is crucial that this report is also used by CCIN Members to highlight to Central Government that Co-operatives are a vital part of the solution to the care crisis this country is facing. There needs to be increased recognition from Central Government as to the importance of preventative work in managing the demand local authorities face across social care and the critical role that co-operatives can play in supporting this.

 

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