Locality are working in partnership with Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales to Keep it Local: for services that transform lives. They are calling on local authorities to move away from large scale outsourcing. Instead they should build on the power of local communities and local resources. This would be a way of meeting the current public sector challenges.

It’s time to turn the tide on large-scale outsourcing.

Over the last year, we have featured some of the reports and resources that Locality have produced as a result of the campaign. Now here’s a way you can get involved.

Locality want to hear about the latest thinking and practice that is shaping the future of our public services. They would like to create an accurate picture of today’s public service landscape. To this end, they are asking people from local authorities and community organisations to complete their short survey. The deadline for responses is Friday 13th July.

Locality are also inviting written responses to a consultation from a wide a range of organisations and individuals. They are particularly interested in hearing about:

•  the latest trends which are shaping public services
• examples of ‘scale fail’ – where large outsourcing contracts haven’t delivered the desired outcomes
• the role of local community organisations in the delivery of public services, and evidence that they can provide services that transform lives
• examples of local areas doing things differently to harness the power of local organisations

You can find out more about the consultation, including the consultation questions here. Any responses need to be completed by Friday 27th July. They should be sent to nick.plumb@locality.org.uk.

We will keep you posted on any other events and reports that come out of this work. We think the campaign has the potential to influence far and wide and will be interested to see where it goes from here.

Photo by Samule Sun