Decentralisation risks leaving poor in the cold

Any plans by the new government to decentralise the delivery of public services to achieve greater efficiency must be coupled with minimum guarantees so the poor and excluded don't end up with sub-standard provision, a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research has said.

The report - called Equality, Entitlements and Localism - argues that localism could provide the best model for delivering services in a way that is more democratic, more cost effective and more efficient. But at the same time, councils and other bodies mustn't be allowed to go too far with 'no frills' budget airline type models - where only the basic services are delivered for free, and everything else is paid for as this would inevitably lead to the poorest people in the poorest areas getting the worse service.

To ensure that localism works without increasing inequality and disadvantage the report argues that two steps need to be taken.
•A national set of rights and entitlements needs to be put in place which guarantee minimum levels of public service provision for everyone
•The new Public Sector Equality Duty(1) needs to be imposed on service deliverers - councils, voluntary and community groups, and private providers

The report author, Dr Phil McCarvill, a visiting Senior Research Fellow at ippr, said:

"Everyone, it seems, is a localist now. Decentralising the delivery of services so that providers are much closer and more responsive to service users offers a route to the double whammy of better and cheaper services.

“But the big danger with this very attractive approach is that that 'pushy and vocal' middle class people shape services to suit themselves, while poorer groups and minorities, who have less of voice but more need of some services, get ignored.

“We've come up with a simple solution which would allow localism to flourish but would avoid increasing inequality. If everyone was aware that there are a set of guaranteed entitlements for key public services and that the Public Sector Equality Duty was applied across the board, service providers could be set free to do their own thing, but they would be obliged to take into account the needs of poorer people and minorities."