Councils could have a key role in encouraging communities to take on increased responsibility for providing local services. There may be risks attached, but it could unlock many creative and effective ideas
Should individuals, communities and organisations be encouraged to take more responsibility for their actions and the associated risks?
This issue is of particular concern when deciding what services communities should receive and how best they can be delivered. In some ways, the public sector is already showing how communities can be encouraged to take on more responsibility. There are many examples of libraries, play groups, sports clubs and recreational centres being run successfully by the community.
The challenge is that, as cutbacks continue to affect public services, reluctance among the public to take on extra responsibility could become a real issue. Research shows that individuals expect certain services and rights, but in many cases do not want to take responsibility for them.
Certainly, there is a feeling that people will take responsibility for success, but will hand the baton of burden back to institutions if things go wrong. This can be exacerbated by how they are reported in the media. For local authorities, stepping in to take the blame, picking up the pieces and providing the support and resource to put things right can place pressure on already-strained budgets.
However, the way individuals currently view their own and the general public’s responsibility is a much bigger issue. It reaches beyond services and is embedded within what makes a community function successfully. The level of risk and responsibility a community and its residents is able to withstand can directly impact the wellbeing, financial stability, safety and health of that community.
Zurich Municipal is currently collaborating with the think tank Demos on this issue. Core to the project is the idea that responsibility is inextricably linked to risk; the level to which someone can be held personally responsible for something is relative to the extent to which they have control over, and knowledge of, its associated risks. This sense of individual responsibility is something that has declined over the last century.
Our project considers whether there needs to be a fundamental, cultural shift in attitudes towards responsibility, and what the implications may be.
Certainly, there seems to be a disconnect in the public psyche when it comes to responsibility. Take, for example, Neighbourhood Watch. It is a scheme that reportedly reduces crime by up to a quarter in some areas, yet an estimated 21m UK households are not covered by it. People say they are willing to take more responsibility for their local neighbourhoods, but low levels of participation in this scheme seems to suggest otherwise.
The question is, then, how much responsibility should communities be afforded, and how can they be encouraged to act more responsibly? Is it possible for this kind of cultural shift to take place and, who should be responsible for encouraging it?
One idea is to reward or incentivise increased individual and community responsibility. Creating a system of tailored rewards for ‘good behaviour’ could, overall, have a beneficial impact; this is not a million miles away from the notion of reward in the insurance industry with such mechanisms as no claims discounts.
Local authorities could have a key role to play in fostering the kind of change necessary to encourage communities, where appropriate, to take on increased responsibility. Building on schemes and measures already in place to grow community cohesion will form an important step.
As the delivery of public services changes, the requirement for communities to come together to define their needs on an individual and collective level will grow. Volunteer groups already exist bringing together local residents as community mediators, and local authorities could be the facilitator for communication and action at this level.
It is important for society to understand that taking increased or different risks does not need to be a bad thing. In fact, understanding and challenging community and individual appetite for risk could actually unlock creative and effective ideas.
Andrew Jepp is director of public sector at Zurich Municipal
