Spinning with substance? The creation of new third sector organisations from public services

By their very nature social enterprises can be interpreted as hybrid organisations, as they seek to combine the independence from government and social mission traditionally connected with the third sector, with business principles developed within the private sector. Successive governments have sought to promote this hybrid form of third sector organisation, through extolling their virtues to commissioners and encouraging public sector workers to ‘spin-out’ core public services into social enterprise mutuals. Central government enablers have included dedicated funding, business development support, and mentoring schemes for future leaders. The chapter considers the contexts, motivations and assumptions behind recent policy interests related to social enterprise in general and spinning out in particular, and reviews current evidence regarding their impact in practice.