Joining forces wisely
Shared services and public sector mergers.
- Level
- Bitesize
- Learning time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Where
- Leading through Reorganisation, Mergers and Shared Services
- Price
- £39
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion
Overview and Outcomes.
Overview
Sharing services is sharing power. This module places shared services on Huish and Milliner's seven degrees of working with others, sets out six models from Local Government Association material, and weighs the evidence on savings from the Gershon Review and the LGA's Services Shared: Costs Spared? It compares governance options, explains why trust is the real shared service, and draws lessons from the Tri-borough on building arrangements that survive elections. This module looks at mergers in housing, charities and health in Wales and England, and why the reason for merging should be settled before the method. It challenges the popular seventy per cent failure story using Hughes, introduces Haspeslagh and Jemison's model of how closely to integrate, compares housing and charity oversight, weighs scale against local accountability, and draws on the 2026 Hertfordshire Mind merger.
What you'll develop
In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:
- Identify the six models of shared services and place a partnership on the seven degrees of working with others.
- Assess the evidence on where shared service savings come from and why baselines for cost and quality are needed before starting.
- Use the Tri-borough lessons to plan governance, political sponsorship and exit arrangements that help a shared service last.
- Use Haspeslagh and Jemison's model to distinguish absorption, symbiosis, preservation and holding, and to choose an integration approach.
- Assess the trade-off between scale and local accountability in a housing association or charity merger, including the role of boards.
The Modules.
1 hour 15 minutes of learning.
- 04Shared Services: Models, Benefits and PitfallsSharing services is sharing power. This module places shared services on Huish and Milliner's seven degrees of working with others, sets out six models from Local Government Association material, and weighs the evidence on savings from the Gershon Review and the LGA's Services Shared: Costs Spared? It compares governance options, explains why trust is the real shared service, and draws lessons from the Tri-borough on building arrangements that survive elections.36 min
- 05Mergers in Housing, Charities and HealthThis module looks at mergers in housing, charities and health in Wales and England, and why the reason for merging should be settled before the method. It challenges the popular seventy per cent failure story using Hughes, introduces Haspeslagh and Jemison's model of how closely to integrate, compares housing and charity oversight, weighs scale against local accountability, and draws on the 2026 Hertfordshire Mind merger.36 min
Keep going.
Part of the Leading through Reorganisation, Mergers and Shared Services topic, also sold whole as Rebuilding together.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereBitesize, 1 hour 15 minutes, £39
- Next stepFocus, Building the new organisation, 3 hours, £69. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £30.
- The whole topicExplore, Rebuilding together, 5 hours 30 minutes, £129. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £90.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms
Other Bitesize in the Leading through Reorganisation, Mergers and Shared Services topic
- From district to unitaryLocal government reorganisation in England1 hour 45 minutes£39
- Keeping people with youCulture and leadership in structural change1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Vesting day and beyondVesting day, benefits realisation and embedding1 hour 15 minutes£39
See all in Leading through Reorganisation, Mergers and Shared Services
