Citizen's Charter

The Citizen's Charter was a British political initiative launched by the then Prime Minister, John Major, on 22 July 1991, less than a year into his premiership.[1][2]

Aims

It aimed to improve public services in the UK by:[2]

  • Making administration accountable and more user-focused.
  • Ensuring transparency and the right to information in an open and easy to understand manner.
  • Taking measures to improve performance in the civil service.
  • Adopting a stakeholder approach.

All public services would have to publish clear targets for levels of service, from hospitals to prison services, local government offices to fire services. [2] NHS patients would have guaranteed time limits for all consultations,[3] and there were individual Charters for schools,[4] housing tenants[4] and motorists.[3] Those bodies that were meeting their defined standards were granted a "Charter Marks".

The charter ensures the following:-

1) quality by improving services 2) choices for the user 3) standards specifying what to expect within a time frame 4) value for the taxpayers money 5) accountability of the service provider 6) transparency in rules and procedures 7) proper code of conduct and grievance redressal mechanism.

Reception

Overview

The initiative was criticised by some for claiming to improve public services while reducing money available for them, and for introducing private methods of management in the public sector. It was also claimed that the result was a "box-ticking mentality" concentrating on the measurable, rather than on the individual users of services. Many in Major's own government were lukewarm about the initiative.[5][6] Some elements of the Charter idea were also unsuccessful, notably the much-derided 'Cones Hotline'.[3][7] However many have since praised the initiative as improving the culture and transparency of the public sector.[8][9]

All new applications for Charter Marks were officially closed on 30 June 2008; the scheme was terminated in 2010, with the officially declared final validity date being 30 June 2011.[10] It was replaced with a similar 'Customer Service Excellence' scheme.

Sources

References
  1. For details about John Major, see the official Number 10 Downing Street Archived October 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine web site.
  2. https://univ-paris12.academia.edu/JohnMullen/Papers/882457/John_Majors_Citizens_Charter._Fifteen_years_later Academic paper on the citizen's charter
  3. "1991: Citizen's charter promises better services". 22 July 1991 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  4. Commons, The Committee Office, House of. "House of Commons - Public Administration - Twelfth Report". publications.parliament.uk.
  5. John Major (1999). John Major: The Autobiography. Phoenix Books. p. 252.
  6. Anthony Seldon (1997). Major: A Political Life. Harper Collins. p. 190.
  7. Christian Wolmar (19 September 1995). "Cones Hotline put into cold storage". The Independent.
  8. Hickson, Kevin (2017). "3. John Major and the Evolution of British Conservatism". In Hickson, Kevin; Williams, Ben (eds.). John Major - An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? Reappraising John Major. Biteback Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-785-90271-0.
  9. Norton, Philip (2017). "5. The Constitution". In Hickson, Kevin; Williams, Ben (eds.). John Major - An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? Reappraising John Major. Biteback Publishing. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-785-90271-0.
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-06. Retrieved 2018-08-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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