UK Award for Privatization Through Employee Ownership

SEQOL, a home care company in Swindon, UK, has been awarded the Philip Baxendale Award, which recognizes excellence in employee-owned companies. SEQOL is part of a privatization effort in the UK, under which 100 care providers with aggregate revenue of £1.5 b (2.4 billion USD) have converted from state ownership to employee ownership. The award is endorsed by the UK government, and Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said, "I visited SEQOL myself, as well as many other impressive mutuals, and know their success lies in encouraging an entrepreneurial and commercially-rigorous spirit whilst retaining the public sector ethos of sharing good practice for the greater good."