This chapter starts by summarising competing perspectives on the public service ethos and professional ethics more specifically, building on the discussion of competing perspectives on lawyers in the preceding chapter. Considerable claims have been made about professional altruism; claims which have in turn been subjected to fundamental challenges. Public service professionals have been faced with increasing dilemmas, in the context of public service modernisation, in attempting to balance competing demands despite the pressures to reduce the space for the exercise of professional judgement. This introductory section sets the context for the later focus on Law Centres and those who were working in them, starting with their motivations and values as these interrelate with Law Centres’ own missions and ethos. Subsequent sections explore the reflections of those directly involved with Law Centres, and reflections by stakeholders from different sectors: lawyers in private practice, staff from other voluntary sector agencies such as advice centres, local authority officers and councillors and funders more generally.

Contested approaches to the public service ethos, professional ethics and professionalism in the context of public service modernisation

Differing approaches to the contested notion of the public service ethos need to be unpacked so as to set the context for the discussion of ethics and the professions. Is there a public service ethos, and, if so, how might it be changing in response to public service modernisation? In summary, the public service ethos was traditionally associated with notions of service to the public within the framework of public institutions such as the civil service, and characterised by commitments to values such as those of accountability and impartiality, delivering services according to agreed procedures, doing a socially useful job without fear or favour.

The question of motivation has been involved here, the public service motivation construct being defined as an individual's predisposition to respond to motives associated with public institutions (Perry and Wise, 1990) and to behave accordingly. Altruism – the commitment to serving the public, even if this might involve lower rates of pay in public service employment – has been defined as a central aspect of this motivation, although more rationally self-interested motives such as job security have also been identified as potentially relevant, in the past at least (Perry and Honeghem, 2008). Individuals can and do act with varying motivations.