Public services are facing unprecedented challenges, with ever-growing demand and resources becoming increasingly stretched.

In the Liverpool City Region, we’re not just acknowledging this crisis; we’re partnering with the government’s Test, Learn and Grow programme to actively build a bold, collaborative solution.

Kirsty McLean, the Combined Authority’s Executive Director of Public Sector Innovation, outlines how the Office for Public Service Innovation (OPSI) is transforming how we support our communities and tackle the root causes of disadvantage. 

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Public services are under pressure like never before. Demand is rising, complexity is deepening, and resources are flatlining. In the Liverpool City Region, we’ve reached a tipping point. The old ways -fragmented pilots, short-term funding, and siloed delivery – have never been enough. That’s why we’re building something different: the Office for Public Service Innovation (OPSI).  

Kirsty McLean, Executive Director, Public Sector Innovation

OPSI is our region’s bold bet on a brighter future. It’s not a new department or a shiny initiative. It’s a way of working—collaborative, data-driven, and rooted in the lived experience of our communities. Convened by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, OPSI brings together our six local authorities, NHS partners, housing providers, universities, and the voluntary sector to tackle the root causes of disadvantage, not just the symptoms. 

At its heart, OPSI is about enabling a move to prevention and early intervention. We know that too many of our services are stuck in crisis mode -responding to problems after they’ve escalated. OPSI flips that logic. By using data to identify problems earlier, and by designing services with communities around their needs rather than for them, we can improve outcomes and reduce long-term costs. 

This isn’t theory. It’s already happening. Cradle to Career is showing the value of long term sustained support and returning agency to some of our most deprived areas. Kindred is showing the value of a different approach to enabling social innovation and funding and the social change it has delivered. And the Civic Data Co-operative shows how we can use data better to create new insights and drive positive change. We’re learning what works – and what doesn’t – and using that insight to shape the wider OPSI model. 

What makes OPSI different is its commitment to learning in the open. We’re not waiting for a three-year evaluation to tell us what we already know. We’re building feedback loops into everything we do, so we can adapt in real time. And we’re already sharing that learning across the region – and beyond. 

But we can’t do this alone. If central government is serious about public service reform, it needs to back places like ours. That means flexible, long-term funding that supports innovation – not just delivery. It means permission to pool budgets, share data and design services around people, not departments. And it means recognising that the best ideas often come from the frontline, not Whitehall. 

We’re already working closely with the Cabinet Office’s Test, Learn and Grow programme, and we’re in active dialogue with ministers and officials. But we need more to go even further. OPSI is building the foundations and is ready to scale. With the right support, it can become a national exemplar – a model for how places can lead the next chapter of public service reform. 

The stakes are high. We want the very best for all our 1.6 million residents. In a region where over half of residents live in the most deprived areas, we can’t afford to tinker at the edges. OPSI is our chance to do something different. To build services that are not just more efficient, but more human. And to show that even in tough times, by working with communities and partners, local government can lead the way.