UK financialisation of public service delivery

The British state continues to propagate a series of post colonial governance and service delivery initiatives, especially based on the third sector, with support for impact measurement, social investment and the financialisation of health, social care and welfare. This recompositing of the political space means that a vast infrastructure provides a platform for philanthrocapitalism (McGoey, 2015), with much of it funded and directed by government through the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment, British Council and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. By products from this mixed economy of welfare render ‘social enterprise’ polysemous (Jenson, 2015, 2020) and may ultimately restore recipient countries to a pre welfare state. This mitigates against any emancipation by grassroots communities and undermines attempts at social justice (Fraser, 2011). This contribution draws an analogy with the 1980s and 1990s transmogrification of welfarism into workfare. ”Workfarism” presented a challenge to welfarism at ideological, institutional and regulatory levels, leading to “transferable ‘reform options’ deployed by consultants, reform advocates, and policy intermediaries (King, 1992; Peck, 1998). Conservative Governments’ expansion of these programmes has only been possible through building on foundations laid down by previous Labour Government and third sector organisations. This trajectory represents a decoupling of UK third sector policy from a social economy in mainland Europe and Quebec.