time banking in social housing - a toolkit for co-production in public services

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International Journal of Community Currency Research 15 (2011) D 73-76 73

Introduction

Timebankingisacommunitycurrencywithan

explicitsocialobjectivetogrowsocialcapital

andcombatsocialexclusion.Themost

establishedformoftimebankingisthe‘person

toperson’modelbasedonindividual

exchangesinacommunity.Anewformoftime

bankinghasrecentlyemergedinSpice,asocial

enterprisethatimplementstimebankingin

publicservicesinaninnovativeway.Spice

operatestimebankingasa‘meanstoanend

tool’topromoteactivecitizenship,reduce

welfaredependencyandultimatelytransform

publicservicesintoco-production.Inasociety

wheretheimpactofrecessionisincreasingly

questioningthefutureofourpublicservices,

Spicesuggesttimebankingcanhelpre-focus

publicservicedeliveryandworkinanefEicient

waythatempowersbothindividualsand

communitiestogeneratewell-being.This

articlewillbrieElyreviewformsoftimebanking

intheUKtosetthesceneforadiscussionof

Spice’sapproachtotimebankinginpublic

servicesusingacasestudyoftheirworkinahousingassociation.

Person to person time banking: ‘The

Traditional Model’.Thetraditionalmodeloftimebankisbasedon

hourforhourskillsexchange,mediatedbya

broker,betweenindividualsinacommunity.In

thisway,timebanksareaformofcommunity

self-helpembodyingthevaluesofmutualism

andreciprocity.Researchsuggeststhatby

aidingpeopleEinanciallyandgrowingsocial

networks,timebankingcanhelptotackle

socialexclusionacrosseconomic,social,

politicalandculturaldomains(Seyfang,2002;

2003a;2003b;2004a;2004b).

However,anumberofchallengeshavebeen

identiEiedwithpersontopersontimebanking

models.Aswithmanythirdsector

organisations,themainchallengefacingtime

banksisthelackofsustainablefunding.

Limitedfundingoftenpreventstimebanks

fromopeningordevelopingandtimebroker

energyiswastedthroughchasingresources.

Otherproblemsincludemembersnotspending

timehourseitherthroughalackofoptionsfor

spending,ordifEicultyinembracingtheconcept

ofreciprocity,bothofwhichlimitthepotential

beneEitsoftimebanks.Therearealsobarriers

duetoriskcomplexitiesassociatedwith

Time Banking in Social Housing:A Toolkit for Co-production in PublicServicesRuth Naughton-Doe

University of Bristol, School for Policy Studies, 8 Priory Road, Bristol, BS8 1TZ

[email protected]

InternationalJournal of CommunityCurrency

Research

IJCCR Abstract

AsocialenterpriseSpicehaspioneeredanewmethodoftimebankingthatworkswithpublic

servicesinaninnovativeway.Spiceusestimebankingasa‘meanstoanendtool’topromote

activecitizenship,reducewelfaredependencyandultimatelyreformpublicserviceswithco-

production.ThisarticlebrieElyexaminescurrenttimebankingpracticesintheUKtosetthe

sceneforadiscussionofSpice’sapproachwhenappliedinSocialHousing.Whilstinitsearly

stages,theapproachdemonstratessomesuccessinincreasingparticipationandimprovingboth

individualandcommunitywell-being.Thisisanexcitingnewuseofcommunitycurrenciesto

catalysepublicsectorreform.

www.ijccr.net

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




vulnerablepeopleandrequiredCRBchecks,

especiallyinlocalauthorityfundedtimebanks

withrelatedgovernmentpaperwork.

Person to agency time banking: ‘TheWelsh Model’

TimeBankingWalesadvocatedadifferent

approachtotimebankingwithanexplicitaim

ofcommunitydevelopmentbybuilding

partnershipswithlocalcommunity

organisationsandservices.Insteadof

establishinganeworganisationof‘timebank’,

theWelshmodelencouragesexisting

organisationstoadoptthevaluesoftime

banking.Ratherthanindividualexchanges,

citizensearncreditsbydirectlyengagingwith

localagencies,communitygroupsandpublic

services.Inthismodel,timebankmembers

receiveaphysicaltimecreditnotewhichis

thenusedtoaccessservicesortripsfunded

usingexistingresourcesandsparecapacity.For

example,ayouthclubwhichonceprovided

tripsforfreeisencouragedtochargemembers

timecreditstogoontrips.Timecreditsare

earntbyhelpinginthecommunityinactivities

suchaslitterpicking,andthevaluesof

responsibilityandreciprocityareperpetuated.

Theapproachbeginswithonecommitted

organisation,andeventuallydifferentgroups

areencouragedtoworktogethertogrowa

timenetworkoralliancewhichspansthe

community.ThebeneEitsoftheapproachare

increasedresponsibility,reduceddependency,

increasedemployability,accesstoskills,

improvedhealthandwell-being,and

communitydevelopment.Whilsttheapproach

hasbeensuccessfulinsomeareassuchasthe

WelshvalleytownBlaengarw(Gregory,2009),

criticsoftheapproachargueitonlyworksin

smallgeographicallydeEinedcommunitieslikethosefoundinSouthWales,andevidenceisyet

tobeseenofitssuccessoutsidetheseareas.

Spice Innovations

Spiceisadynamicsocialenterprisethatapplies

theWelshmodeloftimebankingdirectlyto

publicservicessuchasschools,prisonsand

housingassociations.Communitycurrencies

havelongbeenregardedasprovidingmorethananalternativeeconomicsystem,butSpice

embracetimebankinginanovelwayto

directlyinEluenceandreformpublicservices.

Whilsttheindividualexchangesremain

valuable,Spiceseetimebankingas‘meansto

anendtool’tomeetotheroutcomessuchas

increasedparticipation,reduceddependency,

activecitizenshipandultimatelyco-production.

TobrieElydiscussco-production,itmoves

beyondparticipationtoemphasisethe

necessaryinvolvementofcitizensintheproductionofservices,fromcommissioning,

planning,deliveryandevaluation(Boivard,

2007;Needham,2007;2009).Co-production

aimsto‘workwithandnotdounto’people

(CumminsandMiller,2007)sothatservices

aredeliveredinawaythatbuilds

empowerment,well-beingandself-esteem.It

redeEinesserviceusersasvaluableassetsco-

producingtheirownoutcomes.ThebeneEitsof

co-productionarereducedwelfaredependency,

empowermentandservicesthataremorepersonalised,efEicient,responsiveand

accountable.Furthermore,bydelivering

servicesinawaythatincreaseswell-being,

longtermwelfarecostswillbereducedas

serviceusersbecomemoreresilientand

healthy.

Thetraditionalmodeloftimebankinginthe

USAcentralisedco-productionandpromoted

communityselfhelpinAmericatoboost

capacityinunderfundedpublicservices(Cahn,

2000).IntheUK,thisaspectoftimebankinghaspreviouslybeensidelinedperhapsdueto

ourcomprehensivewelfarestate.However,

Spice’smodelmakesco-productionexplicitin

timebankingandmovesthetransactionaway

fromtheindividualandtowardspublic

services.Intimesofrecessionandwith

growingawarenessthatourcurrentmodelof

servicedeliveryisElawed,Spice’smodelis

experiencingpopularity.BothThe

Conservative’s‘BigSociety’andLabour’s

championingofco-operativesarecompatiblewithSpice’svisionforpublicservicereform

andricPicklestheMinisterforCommunities

mentionsSpiceinhiscommunitystrategy.

Benefits of the Welsh Model and Spice

videncefromcasestudiessuggeststhat

persontoagencytimebankingdoesencourage

citizenstobecomemoreactiveintheir

communityandincreasespeople’swell-being.

Furthermore,whilsttimebankingdoesnot

necessarilyleadtoco-production,ithelpsto

sowtheseedsofdevelopment(Gregory,2009),

I J C C R

T i m e B a n k i n g i

n S o c i a l H o u s i n g




andcommunicatestheconcepttopractitionersina

digestibleway.Practically,thismodelovercomesthe

difEicultiesofsustainablefundingasthetimebank

becomesmainstreamedand‘rewards’aregivenusing

sparecapacity.Additionally,allmembershave

opportunitiestospendtheircreditsandrisk

complexitiesareremovedasthetransactionisnotbased

onanindividualexchangebetweenvulnerablepeople.

However,theevidencesupportingSpiceisnot

academicallyrobustandmostoftheevidenceiseither

producedbySpicethemselvesorbythethinktankthe

NewconomicsFoundationwhobothhavevested

interestsinthesuccessoftimebanking.Spice’sapproach

ispioneering,isstillbeingdevelopedandisunder

researched.Whilstpromising,theevidenceneedstobe

robustlysubstantiated.

Spice and HousingTofullyexplainSpice’sapproachthisarticlewilldiscuss

thepracticalapplicationofthemethodologywhen

appliedtosocialhousing.UnitedWelshHousing

AssociationinCardiffrecentlycontractedSpiceto

implementtimebankingasamethodofincreasing

tenantparticipation.Persontopersontimebankinghas

previouslybeenestablishedinhousingassociations,but

withlimitedsuccessduetothetimeconsumingnatureof

monitoringtheindividualtransactionsandthe

recognisednecessitytoemployafulltimecoordinator.

Spice’snewapproachhopestorevitalisetimebankinginhousing,andwhilstcontinuingtoprovidethebeneEitsof

timebankingtoresidents,alsohopestofulEilthesocial

responsibilitiesandparticipationobjectivesofUnited

Welsh.

UnitedWelshhadaproblemtosolve,asasocialhousing

providertheyrecognisedtenantparticipationasgood

practise.Tenantparticipationisthoughttoimprove

servicesbymakingthemmoreresponsiveand

personalised,topromoteempowermentandtoreduce

turnover.However,participationinitiativeshistorically

struggletoengagethemany,frequentlyfailingtoengage

sociallyexcludedgroupsandinsteadengagingthesame

smallgroupofactivetenantswhichleadstoreduced

positiveimpactsofparticipation(SimmonsandBirchall,

2007).Furthermore,UnitedWelshrecognisedthat

methodsofparticipationwerenotdiverseenoughto

appealtoalltenants,andtheywantedtorewardtenants

whowerealreadyparticipating.

Timebankswereseenasapossiblesolutiontothese

outlinedproblems.Inordertoboostthepositiveimpacts

ofparticipation,timecreditsofferincentivesto

participate.Additionally,adiversemenuofwaystoearn

timecreditsattractsmorepeoplethanthetraditional

volunteer,andtimecreditsareawayofrewarding

tenants.Participationintimebankschemeshasallthe

aforementionedbeneEitstosocialexclusionandwell-

being,aswellasmeetingthehousingassociation’sremit

ofprovidingsociallyresponsibleservices.

Afteridentifyingthewaysinwhichtimecreditscouldbe

useful,SpiceworkedwithUnitedWelshtodevelopatime

creditsystemwheretenantsearncreditsforattendingresidentsmeetings,providingfeedbackandhelpingto

runevents.Residentsthenspendcreditsonamenuof

rewardsandactivities.SpicebuiltmutuallybeneEicial

partnershipswithlocalbusinessessuchasarock

climbingcentre,anartscentre,CardiffBluesrugby

groundandahairdressers,allofwhomwereinterested

inbothincreasedprospectsforpublicityandwider

socialresponsibilityobjectives.LocalAuthoritiesaccept

SpiceCreditstoaccessswimmingandthegymtohelp

meettheirobjectiveofengagingsociallyexcludedpeople

withtheirservices.AsanaddedbeneEit,manyofthetimebankrewardsareforhealthyactivitiesmeaningpeople

beneEitfrombothearningandspendingtheirtime

credits.Spiceconstantlydevelopstheirrewardsbasedon

users’preferencesandinthelongtermhopetoprovide

educationandtrainingcourses.ventually,Spiceaimsto

workwithallhousingassociationsinCardifftoestablish

aHousingNetwork,whichencouragespartnership

workingbetweenhousingagencies.

Successes

Researchintothehousingassociationisstillunderway,

butpreliminaryEindingssuggestanumberofbeneEits

suchasincreasedparticipation,jointworkinganduptake

ofhealthyactivitiesamongtenants.Itistooearlyto

discussco-productionwhichisalongtermgoal,but

increasedparticipationisasignthatitwilldevelop.

OnesuccesshasbeenwhereSpicehasintroducedthe

systemintoasupportedhousingserviceforhomeless

people.Arguablythemostexcludedinsociety,homeless

peoplearetraditionallyverydifEiculttoengageinboth

volunteeringandtenantparticipation.Despitebeing

beneEicialtohealthandwell-being,traditionalmodelsof

serviceshavenotsuccessfullyengagedthisgroupin

theseactivities.Spiceworkinginacreativewayhas

I J C C R

T i m e B a n k i n g i

n S o c i a l H o u s i n g

“Research into the housing

association is still underway, butpreliminary findings suggest anumber of benefits such asincreased participation, jointworking and uptake of healthyactivities among tenants.”

time banking in social housing - a toolkit for co-production in public services

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