New concept. Very cool. Well, as cool as public policy gets. Bit geeky some might say.

Hopefully a simple concept. A4e is about higher performing public services at lower cost. Better outcomes for citizens, better outcomes for governments - and we need to do this at a lower cost. We have some big brains – some small ones too - working on ideas to tackle poverty, unemployment, social exclusion and whilst they’re at it, reduce public debt. Not just in the UK. We find ourselves discussing this with many of the governments we work with.

We have had a concept called the ‘gingerbread man’ for a while. Many of the people using A4e’s services face multiple challenges – improving their health, sorting out family difficulties, interfacing with legal services, addressing debt problems, accessing support and advice, gaining skills to get into work, finding work, gaining better skills when in work, accessing entitlements, getting themselves back into society following prison, sorting housing out, addressing childcare support, sorting out care for relatives……

Many of our customers work with a myriad of organizations to address these needs. There is a better way. We are looking at all the funding going into one individual across all the different public services they access. We can give people control and choice. We can personalise services. We can save money by making all of this more efficient. That’s a good deal for the taxpayer and for the citizen. It’ll force organizations like A4e to be better at joining up services. Perhaps more importantly we will be able to join up our services for the first time if we can pilot these ideas.

It won’t be easy. People will need to work across different agencies and departments in government. We will need to break down and challenge some of the silos we all work in. It will feel different, uncomfortable and challenging. Procurement and ‘the way we do things’ will have to be challenged.

But in the UK, we need to tackle a £178bn deficit. I do not believe service cuts are the answer. New ways of making services work, with different ways of getting them out to citizens, must be considered. We need new models and ways of doing things – cutting the ‘usual stuff’, no matter how much, just isn’t enough.

We launched Total Person at a session in the UK at HM Treasury last week. In late March we will present some more on these ideas in Australia. Over coming months, we will bring together lots of the ideas we have developed over the last 4 or 5 years into a coherent and hopefully compelling series of suggestions and ideas. It’s all about better outcomes for citizens from public services – public, private and third sector working together.

We need to do some things very differently. Let us know if you have ideas or suggestions too – find out more over coming weeks at A4e Insight

www.i-a4e.com