Image: Building dream service models – working together on commissioning in complex systems can involve using all sorts of tools and techniques.
A version of this article was originally published in The MJ on 22 May 2025.
Local Government has a choice in responding to the new Procurement Act. It can
retreat into conservative approaches focused on control and managing risk, or seize
the opportunity to think differently and creatively – to test new, more collaborative,
community-focused approaches to commissioning as a route to achieving better
outcomes at lower cost.
We know from the conversations we’ve been part of with authorities across the
country that the current context for commissioning can feel scary and difficult.
Navigating new legislation, working with budgets which continue to be stretched and
navigating the timelines for devolution have all added a layer of additional complexity
to the work of commissioners. But in spite of that there’s a growing number of places
across the country that are demonstrating what’s possible.
Take a recent example from Devon. Commissioners there have set aside traditional
commissioner-provider relationships and invested in prototype projects to reimagine
support for victims and survivors of domestic abuse. They asked the question ‘what
would happen if we started with a blank piece of paper and met people where they’re
really at?’.
The freedom to work in this way initially felt daunting for some as it meant
reframing relationships and taking a leap of faith to trust that a new way of working
was possible. Collectively, however, commissioners and providers were able to have
bold conversations about anti-racism and marginalisation, remove arbitrary
thresholds to access services, and focus on holistic and strengths-based support.
We’ve been helping them to capture the learning from these new ways of working
and to create a spirit of experimentation underpinning everything they do. And the
impact? Services have flourished and are achieving meaningful and sustainable
outcomes for the people they support.
How can we spread this energy and seize the opportunity the Procurement Act
offers?
Despite some interpreting the new Procurement Act as a reason for caution, we
believe it offers plenty of opportunity to be creative. Collaborate Board member and
partner at Anthony Collins law firm, Mark Cook, identifies the challenge as a
tendency to blame the law for the barriers we face when really it’s about a failure to
innovate. Seizing the opportunities of the new legislation therefore requires a change
of mindset to enable all its flexibilities to be used. Mark tells us to put purpose first –
designing the ideal process and then applying the law to adjust as required.
One of the opportunities for change is entirely within the gift of local authorities and
not affected by the change in the law. All too often we see local authorities treating
commissioning as an afterthought when developing new place-based strategies and
partnership approaches.
What if instead we considered commissioning from the start and acknowledged it as a key enabler for systems change? When we open up conversations about commissioning in this way, it can be a powerful tool for fostering collaboration, reimagining relationships, and achieving better outcomes in places, through listening and learning together.
Commissioners of homelessness services in Liverpool City Region put systems
stewardship at the heart of the process, based on the principles of Human Learning
Systems. This is enabling providers and commissioners to reflect on learning
together to adapt and improve delivery.
That’s not to say any of this is easy. We know that commissioners are faced with
long standing, systemic issues that are entrenched across the public sector after
many years of New Public Management approaches and austerity. From drives
towards standardised packages of care to short term funding, these challenges stifle
creativity and undermine the relational nature of the work we know is so important
when designing and delivering people-centred services.
But we’ve seen that resetting relationships between commissioners and providers
can be transformative in local systems. As part of developing and delivering
homecare support in Thurrock, there has been a deliberate shift away from the use
of the term ‘provider’ to ‘partner’. This simple shift in language highlights the
collaboration which is at the heart of their approach. It signals the opening up of new
opportunities for collaboration which are built on principles of trust, lived experience,
equity of voice and long term vision, setting the foundations for better service
delivery locally.
Bold new ways of working that centre communities are starting to emerge all over
the country. These reposition the role of commissioners from control and
compliance, to enabling and collective problem solving.
There has never been a better and, arguably, more important time, to think
differently about how we commission to better address complex challenges and build
on the strengths of our communities and local system partners.
Want to know more?
Join our Commissioning with Communities Programme starting in September 2025 or
find out more about how we can support your commissioning work more generally.
Alternatively, email [email protected] and we’ll be in touch.