Beyond “make” or “buy”: evaluating value‐for‐money in public service delivery by Shiva, M, FitzGerald, C, Carter, E, Airoldi, M

“…<p>Outsourcing of public services is under heightened scrutiny. Public managers are asked to conduct thorough &ldquo;make or buy&rdquo; assessments to help assure deliverability, affordability, and value for money of public services. …”

Tracing 25 years of “initiativitis” in central government attempts to join up local public services in England by Gibson, M, van Lier, FA, Carter, E

“…<p>Over the last 25 years, central government has attempted to join up local public services in England on at least 55 occasions, illustrating the “initiativitis” inflicted upon local governments by the large volume and variety of coordination programmes. …”

Social Outcomes Contracting (SOC) in social programmes and public services: a mixed-methods systematic review protocol by Picker, V, Carter, E, Airoldi, M, Ronicle, J, Wooldridge, R, Llewellyn, J, Monk, L, Stone, S, Gibson, M, Rosenbach, F, Hameed, T

Contracting ‘person-centred’ working by results: street-level managers and frontline experiences by Carter, E, Domingos, FD, Rosenbach, F, Van Lier, F-A

“…Despite growing interest, little is known empirically about the impact of Outcomes Based Contracting (OBC) on public service delivery at the street level. This longitudinal study evaluates the contractual shift of a British support service for adults with multiple, complex needs from bilateral fee-for-service arrangements to an outcomes contract in the form of a ‘social impact bond’. …”

Have we ‘stretched’ social impact bonds too far? An empirical analysis of SIB design in practice by Economy, C, Carter, E, Airoldi, M

“…When the social impact bond (SIB) model was first introduced in 2010, there were many claims about how these projects could transform public service delivery. This article investigates how SIB projects have been designed in relation to two original intentions: (1) shifting the focus of public service delivery to achieving impact and (2) transferring risk from the government to external investors. …”

More than marketised? Exploring the governance and accountability mechanisms at play in Social Impact Bonds by Carter, E

“…Social Impact Bonds are considered a highly marketised form of public service delivery and are understood to “work” through the introduction of new capital into payment-by-results contracts. …”

Contracting ‘person-centred’ working by results: street-level managers and frontline experiences in an outcomes-based contract by Carter, E, Rosenbach, F, Domingos, F, van Lier, F-A

“…Our findings add much-needed empirical evidence on the implications of OBC for personalization and co-production of public service delivery. In contrast to prior payment-by-results experiments we find evidence of enhanced person-centredness and asset-based practice.…”

Walking the contractual tightrope: a transaction cost economics perspective on social impact bonds by Fitzgerald, C, Carter, E, Dixon, R, Airoldi, M

“…<p>Transaction cost economics is applied in this paper to social impact bonds to explore how public service commissioners could improve outcomes-based contracts. …”

Contractual acrobatics: a configurational analysis of outcome specifications and payment in outcome-based contracts by FitzGerald, C, Tan, S, Carter, E, Airoldi, M

“…Outcome-based contracting (OBC) seeks to improve public services by paying for service outcomes rather than service activities. …”