Contracting ‘Person-centred’ Working by Results: Street-level Managers and Frontline Experiences

Abstract

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’. These findings add much-needed empirical evidence on the impact of OBC on the discretion, personalisation, and co-production of public service delivery at the frontline; and pushes conceptual boundaries by emphasising the importance of governance and management conditions for the work of street-level bureaucrats.