Dr Simon Duffy of the Centre for Welfare Reform explains how the bankruptcy of Northamptonshire County Council has been triggered by austerity, but was built on hyper-centralisation, privatisation and the failure of the commissioning model. He argues that its people need to head upstream to develop better social solutions and it needs more devolution of power and genuine democratic reform.

1. Can we change
our direction?
Responding to the
bankruptcy of
Northamptonshire
County Council
Dr Simon Duffy of the
Centre for Welfare Reform and
Citizen Network

2. • Northamptonshire County Council is bankrupt and is
being divided into two, while further centralising control.
• This is not a local problem. The UK’s model of local
government has been tested to the point of destruction.
• The idea that social problems can be solved through,
privatisation and commissioning is no longer credible.
• The only democratic and sustainable solution is to head
upstream - to solve social problems together.
• To underpin this approach we need a radical increase in
devolution and democracy.

3. 3 forms of bankruptcy
• Financial - nobody will lend to you because you don’t
seem to be capable of paying back the loan
• Political - nobody trusts you to provide the necessary
leadership to solve your problems
• Intellectual - your ideas, values and basic assumptions
are no longer believable

4. Background assumptions
• Commissioning - the assumption that the privatisation
and contracting of services will solve our problems
• Hyper-centralisation - the lack of power and control at
neighbourhood and local levels
• Austerity - the radical reduction in funding for local
communities and for the poorest and most vulnerable
• These 3 problems have combined to undermine the
current model of local government in Northamptonshire

5. Austerity is the straw that broke the camel’s back

6. Best Value Inspection of Northamptonshire County Council
“…the council had a small overspend in 2013/14 on
Children’s, Families and Education off-set by
underspends in other services. In 2014/15 it
overspent by £11.9m in Adult social care and £10.5m
in Children’s, Families and Education. These two
services overspent in 2015/16 (£29.4m) and
2016/17(£33m). In 2017/18 Adult social care has
continued to overspend (£12.6m) with Place (£5.4m)
also overspending. ”

10. In total, across England as a
whole, the WCA disability
reassessment process during
this period was associated with
an additional 590 suicides
(95% CI 220 to 950), 279,000
additional cases of self-
reported mental health
problems (95% CI
57,000 to 500,000) and the
prescribing of an additional
725,000 antidepressant items
(95% CI 406 000 to 1 045 000).
Barr B, et al. J Epidemiol
Community Health 2015;0:1–7.
doi:10.1136/jech-2015-206209

12. The Committee is seriously concerned about the
disproportionate adverse impact that austerity measures,
introduced since 2010, are having on the enjoyment of
economic, social and cultural rights by disadvantaged and
marginalised individuals and groups. The Committee is
concerned that the State party has not undertaken a
comprehensive assessment of the cumulative impact of such
measures on the realisation of economic, social and cultural
rights, in a way that is recognised by civil society and national
independent monitoring mechanisms (art. 2, para. 1).
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
24 June 2016
UN declares UK Government fails to respect human rights

13. • 2,000+ foodbanks in UK
• Mortality rate has risen for first time since 1945
• You die 8 years earlier if you live in the poorest parts of UK
• Inequality is bad for happiness, health, education, crime etc.
• And many other negative impacts

14. Hyper-centralisation - why the
camels are in charge

15. Future Northants: local government reform consultation
“…the Government has taken the unusual step of
appointing external Commissioners to take over
Northamptonshire County Council’s functions
associated with strategic financial planning,
governance and scrutiny. Without more effective
budgetary control, the quality and reliability of council
services across the county cannot be guaranteed:
unless the current financial position is urgently
reversed, it is likely that some important services will
have to change drastically, or even cease.”

16. Northamptonshire has a
population of 700,000+
if you were a country you would be
the 162nd largest in the world
a little smaller than Guyana

18. Northamptonshire
has double the
population of Iceland

19. • Iceland has a high quality welfare system…
• a President, Prime Minister, Parliament (with 63 seats) a
Supreme Court and a constitution…
• 74 municipalities, which control kindergartens, primary
schools, waste management, social services, public housing,
public transport, services to senior citizens and to disabled
people…
• and the autonomy of municipalities is guaranteed by the
constitution of Iceland.
• Northamptonshire has none of these things… even local
schools are controlled by Whitehall.

20. The UK is probably the most centralised
welfare state in the world

21. Commissioning… a horse
designed by a committee

22. Best Value Inspection of Northamptonshire County Council
“The block contracts with OCS [OCS is Olympus
Care Services Limited is the privatised service set up
by NCC] were found to be under-utilised and
expensive compared to the alternative provision, for
every type of service and client group.” For NCC to
attain value for money, the contracts would either
need to be utilized better /differently or removed
altogether. ”

28. Person Centred
• Citizens and families can
make much better use of
funding if they have flexible
budgets, and
• Support services are free to
work creatively using
principles of self-
management, embedded in
local neighbourhoods.

30. Family Centred
• Families are the bedrock of
community life and support
but we wait for families to go
into crisis before we provide
support.
• Women-centred services offer
a valuable corrective to
current service models.

32. Peer Support
• People, acting like citizens
and providing support to each
other, can do far more than
services can ever do.
• Peer support can also provide
the basis of community
change and renewal.
• Don’t underestimate people.

36. Locally Focused
• We can only see what we can
see.
• Unless support is embedded
in much more local
arrangements problems will
not be spotted early and
solutions will not be built by
local people.
• Local area coordination is a
good model of community
support.

39. Community Partnership
• The systems for funding and
supporting local community
groups are broken beyond
repair.
• We need to move away from
procurement which turns
communities into ‘providers’.
• We need to think in terms of
‘community sourcing’ -
investing in local leadership
and structures.

43. Civic Renewal
• The old role of the Council
needs to be redesigned.
• Communities need to come
together at a local level to
craft solutions.
• Partisan politics does not
seem fit for purpose.
• Civic leadership requires a
move away from management
and towards governance.

45. Local Leadership
• Amazing changes can take
place if we start to believe in
the capacity of local people
and local places.
• It depends on shifting power
back to the local level and
awakening creativity in local
people.

47. C2 process in Beacon Estate led to range of environmental, social,
health and economic changes leading to:
• postnatal depression reduced by 77%
• childhood accident rate dropped by 50%
• unemployment dropped by 71%
• 100% improvement in boys SATs results
• asthma reduced by 50%
• teenage pregnancy rate dropped to zero
• and many other benefits

48. Do we have an alternative?

49. What if we burned all the money…

50. …we’d all still be here

53. Athens invented
democracy more
than 2,500 years ago.
Democracy in
England is a pale
shadow of this.

54. • At its peak ancient Athens had a population of about
300,000 people.
• 50,000 citizens had the right to vote in the assembly and the
courts.
• About 1,100 citizens held office each year, with positions
mostly filled by lots (sortition) and with strict term limits and
clear accountabilities.
• Athens (and Attica) was also divided into c. 140 demes, each
of which also had its own democratic structure….
• e.g. demes were responsible for educating the young.
• Northamptonshire does not engage its citizens.

55. public officials
public services
faith communities
arts & media
environment
heritage
justice
businesses
etc. etc.
How many
communities
already exist?
How many demes do we need?

56. Is our problem a little like
Suduko…
Horizontal communities
can help us identify
leaders for vertical
communities.

58. • What about a local citizen’s convention or assembly?
• What about establishing new local councils? e.g. Bingley
Town Council
• What about developing local plans for changes in services,
funding and representation? e.g. Preston
• What about new forms of democratic representation?
e.g. Frome
• Can the voluntary sector play a different role? e.g. Sheffield
vision
• North Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire - really!?
Should you accept unitarisation?

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