Since at least the begininng of 2010, UK Conservative party Prime Minister has championed a plan to transtion the public sector into cooperatives.  The plan has not been without skeptics: "The politicians in the UK..  have created a clever way of defusing outrage against the private sector by seemingly endorsing a radical response – worker control of the public sector. They are proclaiming a radical new kind of citizen participation as their answer to popular discontent and their lack of legitimacy." 

Now, Co-operatives UK has produced a guide for municipalities pursuing this course: Co-operative Business District: a guided journey to discover your own public service co-operative destination.  They have also stated that the UK is not ready: 

The UK lacks the support and structures necessary to turn public services into mutuals, according to a new report from Co-operatives UK, the trade body for cooperatives.  Time to Get Serious: International Lessons for Developing Public Service Mutuals, written by the consultant Jonathan Bland, the former chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, looks at examples from Spain, Italy and Sweden, all of which have strong cooperative sectors providing public services.  It highlights the key ingredients for the success of mutuals found in those countries which it says are underdeveloped in the UK, including specialist business support, clear cooperative legal models, effective taxation regimes and appropriate procurement regimes.