Trust in public institutions

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The Post Office scandal caused such a public outcry that its ripple impact is still felt today. Media revelations of systemic failures, ruined lives, a persistent refusal to listen to victims, ignoring evidence of injustice, delayed justice and compensation, all severely damaged trust in one of the UK’s most trusted institutions. How can we avoid the repetition of similar scandals and build in accountability, oversight, transparency and some humanity to institutions that will build, not destroy, trust in public institutions?

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Professor Tobias Jung is Professor of Management at the University of St Andrews, and founder and director of the Centre for the Study of Philanthropy & Public Good. His research examines philanthropy, foundations, and their roles in governance, accountability, and the pursuit of the public good.

Sarah Davidson is chief executive at Carnegie UK. From 1995 to 2019 Sarah was a civil servant working for the UK and Scottish Governments in policy and operational roles. Her last post in government was director general for organisational development and operations. Sarah is an honorary professor at the Glasgow University Centre for Public Policy and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Dewi Knight is the founding Director at policyWISE. Hosted by The Open University, policyWISE aims to improve and inform policymaking through comparative research and analysis. Dewi's background is education policy and strategy. He was the Welsh Government's specialist adviser for education reform and worked on the UK-China education policy relations and negotiations for the British Council.