Strategic Service Delivery Partnerships (SSPs) have been heralded as having the potential to revolutionise service delivery and playing a key role in the government’s modernisation agenda of reform for public services. This report examines these claims, testing them against evidence gathered from frontline staff whose employment had passed into the hands of the private sector in five of the earliest SSPs- involving Blackburn and Darwen Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Liverpool City Council, Middlesbrough Borough Council, and London Borough of Southwark. It finds damning evidence of lower job security and satisfaction, less career development and training opportunities, decreased service quality and the absence of consultation over decisions affecting the workforce.
