title: Direct service organisation
text: # Direct service organisation
  
  A direct service organisation or direct labour organisation (DSO or DLO) is a business unit of a United Kingdom local authority or housing association[citation needed] which undertakes work specified by the Local Government Act 1988 and Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 and/or other work, including construction and maintenance. Its workers are directly employed by the authority.
  
  ## Formation
  
  Compulsory competitive tendering and deregulation were encouraged in the early 1980s, leading to the formal establishment of the DSO (and its forerunner, the DLO).
  
  