The local legacy of policy pilots: Understanding the effects of national policy pilots on local implementers

Policy pilots have become a key strategy of governments for testing and implementing policy innovations in England and elsewhere. There are clear attractions for governments to invest in pilot projects that involve only... [ view full abstract ]

Policy pilots have become a key strategy of governments for testing and implementing policy innovations in England and elsewhere. There are clear attractions for governments to invest in pilot projects that involve only short-term financial commitments, devolve responsibility for implementation from the centre to participating localities and seemingly comply with the expectation of evidence based policy. However, it is less clear why local organisations put themselves forward to participate in these schemes and why some of them do so repeatedly given the disruption and frustration experienced by many.
Using examples from local authorities responsible for adult social care, this study aims to explore the motivation of local implementers who are currently participating or participated in the recent past in national pilot schemes, and investigate the effect of pilots on local organisations. It builds on previous work that examined the purpose of policy piloting, and the confusion arising from having multiple, sometimes conflicting, objectives, from the perspective of national policy-makers and evaluators (Ettelt et al., 2015). This follow-on study focuses on the role and perspective of local implementers, their expectations of and experience in such schemes and any effects on their practice, both with regard to the specific policy being piloted and the wider context of service delivery and organisation.
This paper will present the initial analysis of new data collected from interviews with directors of adult social care and other current or former leaders in local authorities. It will reflect critically on the sustainability of efforts to implement policy beyond the life-span of the pilots, the changed context of policy piloting under conditions of austerity and the theoretical implications of piloting in relation to ideas about localism and multi-level governance.