Julia Unwin explains some of her concerns about the challenge of making our public services kinder

We all know kindness is important. Academic research tells us this, as do our own lived experiences. We know that the outcomes for people in hospital are so much better if they are physically touched – and not just for the purposes of a procedure. We know that communities and neighbourhoods are only really revived and reinvigorated because of the active engagement of people who live there. We know that the biggest challenge facing people who need social care can often be the profound sense of loss and grief they feel.

A call for kindness is never, or rarely, disputed. A demand for a more human, and more humane, set of relationships is hard to argue with. And therefore, it is easy just to dismiss this discussion as a call for people to simply be nicer to each other.

But despite the encouraging nods that accompany calls for greater kindness, the task is more difficult than it at first might seem. This is particularly so for our public services (no matter who they are delivered by), which have been designed in such a way as to build-out kindness and human relationships – and sometimes for very good reasons. There may be unintended consequences of features inherent in our services that prevent people from showing empathy, compassion and kindness.

One of these is professionalism. Most professional codes stress detachment, they ensure that individual preferences, personal likings and empathy don’t cloud the making of significant judgements. They try to prevent favouritism, strongly advocate for equal treatment and will normally impose quite rigid concepts of boundaries to ensure that the provider keeps their distance.

Evidence-based policy making, which has been an aspiration for governments for decades, may be another barrier. A strong view that decisions should only be made when sufficient evidence of efficacy has been gathered is an important bulwark against government by hunch, ideology or by interest group. In this evidence-based approach, there is again little space for instinct. Indeed, a large part of their purpose is to drive out the sort of discrimination that empathy or instinct might suggest. There is also much less space for emotion – and for recognising that identity and affiliation really matter.

Underpinning all of this is a desire for fairness and equal treatment. We rightly rail against anything that implies preferential treatment for some and not others. We are also deeply suspicious of political decisions that cannot be backed by evidence or seem to favour one area or individual over another.

Ultimately, deliverers of services are facing a crisis of confidence. They do not wish to be unkind; they are instead struggling to reconcile kindness and humanity with other features inherent in their DNA. Despite seeing pockets of innovation, doing things differently will require a considerable shift in culture. A recent report from NESTA illustrates how staff in public services often work outside the system to work in the way that they want, including staff in Job Centres using their lunch break to help people with job applications. Building the confidence for kindness will require an institutional response, and deep systems and culture change.

Julia Unwin is a Carnegie Fellow. She is speaking at the Carnegie UK Building a Kinder Scotland event at the Gathering on Thursday 22 February.