Revisiting the Route Map to an Enabling State
The Carnegie UK Trust has been exploring how the COVID 19 pandemic has affected the relationships between government, public services and citizens.
As attention starts to shift to how we can “Build Back Better”, we have taken the opportunity to update our influential 2014 Routemap to an Enabling State with some guiding principles for recovery.
We began our work to define and describe the Enabling State after the last great economic shock, observing the perfect storm of ageing populations, climate change and austerity policies.
We found that in the face of these challenges, governments across the UK (local, devolved and UK) were engaged in a process of transformation – a slow moving paradigm shift away from a top-down, ‘one size fits all’ approach, to a more agile model that supports people and communities to achieve positive change for themselves, and thereby to improve their own wellbeing.
We have continued to observe this process of transformation over the ensuing years, noting a varied picture in terms of commitment and pace in the different jurisdictions where we work.
However, the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift in many places, with the immediate responses from public services and from communities demonstrating that there is a different way of working together.
We articulate here the seven steps that public services should take as they move into recovery mode. We believe that these steps could ‘bank’ positive changes in relationships where these have occurred, and accelerate progress towards an enabling state model.
I do hope that you find this framing helpful. To let us know your thoughts, please email Hannah@CarnegieUK.org or join the debate online by tagging @CarnegieUKTrust #EnablingState – we would be pleased to hear from you.
Best wishes
Sarah
Sarah Davidson
Chief Executive
Carnegie UK Trust
Twitter: @CarnegieUKTrust
www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk
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