Liberated Public Services: A new vision for citizens, professionals and policy makers

Ben Glover calls for a systemic overhaul of UK public services, arguing that decades of New Public Management have trapped citizens, professionals, communities, and policymakers in restrictive, top-down frameworks. He proposes four liberations:

1. Citizens must be viewed as full human beings with unique needs and capabilities-not clients with problems to solve.
2. Professionals should be freed from prescriptive targets and performance metrics, empowered instead to co-design services with people they serve.
3. Communities ought to be active partners in shaping and delivering services, not passive recipients.
4. Policymakers should shift from micromanaging operations to facilitating learning, innovation, and best-practice sharing across systems.
   This “liberated” model aims to foster trust, adaptability, and more humane, responsive public services that resist austerity’s rigidity.

The strategy outlines how central government can set enabling conditions-through regulation, funding frameworks, and professional standards-while devolving autonomy to local networks. Glover emphasizes the role of iterative experimentation, peer-to-peer exchange, and co-governance arrangements, so that services evolve organically in line with local needs. Ultimately, the vision balances national cohesion with local empowerment, proposing a future public services model centred on partnership, professionalism, and lived experience.