Project summary

This programme of work carried out between 2014 and 2019 responded to the growing evidence that traditional models of public service delivery cannot solve our most complex social problems. We had seen policymakers and politicians take a growing interest in new ways of working that gave citizens and communities more control. A new more responsive and engaged type of state was emerging which we described as an ‘Enabling State’. 

Our initial research, The Rise of the Enabling State, showed that this shift was occurring in a piecemeal way and that the narrative of the changing role of the state was at risk of being conflated with that of austerity and public service retrenchment.

Informed by conversations with people in all parts of the UK and Ireland, our Carnegie Fellow, Sir John Elvidge, presented our view of the potential role of an Enabling State in his “Route Map”. He set out eight steps that governments can take to improve the wellbeing of all sections of our society, to support individuals and communities to achieve positive change and ensure that the most vulnerable people are not left behind.

In 2019, Carnegie UK published a set of “report cards” for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales which assessed progress in terms of the desired policy shifts towards more personalised and responsive services and greater citizen voice. 

As part of our response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we revisited the Route Map to the Enabling State to take account of what we had learned during that emergency.

Carnegie UK’s work on the Enabling State programme has been highly influential in informing our current understanding of Collective Wellbeing.