Collaborative Consumption

Why trust matters in services

Claire Webb - 08.11.2011

How different would your life be if you didn't trust anyone - who could you share a problem with? Who could you ask for advice or help? For some, this can become part of a wider issue of low resilience - an individual's limited ability to deal with things themselves or being more badly affected by a negative incident.

So trust is important, if not essential, but where does it fit in the public sector? We are used to talking about the big social issues of the day, but trust doesn't normally feature. In Southwark we are trying to change this. We are building a new relationship between the council and our residents, built on trust, openness and transparency.

In practice we think that means the public sector has a dual role when it comes to trust and building resilience. Councils should use their unique community leadership role, working with all partners including, crucially, the voluntary and community sector to unlock the resources within our communities, and we can only do that through building trust and connecting individuals.

We are also clear that no one should be left behind. There is a lot of unmet need out there, which can only effectively be met through individuals being in a supportive network, protecting them from isolation and loneliness and providing support and advice. For some in our communities, the vulnerable or those in the most challenging circumstances, trust is a significant hurdle leading them to have limited networks. Individuals in these circumstances are often in contact with public services the most so we have to build trust and resilience through these interactions. Public services need to treat people as individuals and get to the heart of what they need to enable them to change their lives. Southwark is developing innovative solutions to do just that.

Good old fashioned mechanisms like personal contact or recommendations, through to the myriad of new ways opened up by technology, all help build trust and provide a route into a supportive network. So if the public sector is creative there are lots of solutions out there to unlock the resources within our communities. In Southwark we have developed Southwark Circle, a membership organisation that provides help with life's practical tasks and a social network for teaching, learning and sharing; and we're working with the voluntary and community sector to explore other innovative solutions.

For those who need a little extra support we are also looking at how we directly contribute to build trust and resilience. One way is through tackling our range of assessment processes through MyLife. It's simple, but is also starting to show some significant success. It is a paper portfolio, owned and controlled by the person in which they can document their own individual needs, aspirations, experiences and resources - focusing on the whole person and their life, not just a narrowly defined service issue. It is as the heart of building a different sort of interaction with individuals.

Users and professionals have fed back that it delivers a lot, including reduced service costs; supports individuals to communicate and be more organised; and crucially that it helps individuals to feel positive and to build better, more trusting relationships between professionals and individuals. Users are also coming up with their own ideas about how it could be used.

"I can tell other people about my situation as a good example - it could give a lift-up to people who are in a situation where I have been"

Another way is our Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities programme for parents. It provides tools to achieve a number of parenting objectives, including connecting parents to informal and formal community resources to reduce the sense of isolation. We train up members of the community to then deliver the programme so they come through full cycle and feel empowered. Parents are reporting how much the programme helps, with many parents getting involved in supportive networks. One parent who was on the programme said:

"I met parents who were having difficulties just like me and I know some of us will continue to meet up. I would recommend the programme for all parents."

This is the journey that we have started in Southwark, and I hope more in the public sector will follow our lead. If you are doing anything similar and would like to share ideas or thoughts, or you'd just like to find out more about any of the things we are doing, please get in touch claire.webb@southwark.gov.uk