Participation and co-production: Policy context
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
The foundations for children and young people's participation in decision making over key aspects of their lives are contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which the UK government ratified into law in 1991.
Article 12 of the convention guarantees that children have the right to have their opinions taken into account when adults are making decisions that affect them.
The UNCRC encourages adults to listen to the opinions of children and involve them in decision making, but recognises that the level of a child's participation in decisions must be appropriate to their level of maturity.
Definitions of participation
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's 2009 general comment on the child's right to be heard considers the meaning of participation: "A widespread practice has emerged in recent years, which has been conceptualised broadly as ‘participation'. This term has evolved and is now used widely to describe ongoing processes, which include information sharing and dialogue between children and adults based on mutual respect, and in which children can learn how their views and those of adults are taken into account and shape the outcome of such processes."
Despite this evolution of understanding, there is no one fixed definition of participation. The 2010 report Children's Participation in Decision-making by Participation Works, National Children's Bureau (NCB) and Children's Rights Alliance for England (Crae) defines participation as a process where children not only express their views, but where this also leads to change - whether that be in law and policy, professional practice and services, or the attitudes and behaviours of adults.
Roger Hart's 1992 ladder model of youth participation describes an eight-step process from "manipulation" of young people at the bottom rung of the ladder up to shared decision making at the top rung, with the level of participation increasing with every rung up the ladder (see research evidence).
Definition of co-production
As a result of moves to democratise and localise decision making in public services, a model of participation has emerged that sees young people working as equal partners to design and deliver provision. This co-production approach is defined by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) as "delivering public services in an equal and reciprocal relationship between professionals, people using services, their families and their neighbours. Where activities are co-produced in this way, both services and neighbourhoods become far more effective agents of change".
Co-production rests on the principle that people are no longer passive recipients of services, but active agents in their design and delivery, and to improving outcomes. Developing and embedding co-production across services takes time - it requires changing both the nuts and bolts of commissioning practice and transforming the culture.
NEF has been working with public sector organisations to embed co-production principles and approaches for more than a decade. It has established a co-production practitioners network where public sector professionals can share expertise and ideas. It has also worked with a number of local authorities to help them develop co-production in children's services departments (see practice example). Off the back of this, it has written a guide, with Action for Children, to co-producing children's services.
The guide aims to give children's services professionals action points to help put into practice the four key principles of co-production. These are:
Valuing children and young people as assets
- Identifying who children are and what their interests are
- Enabling children to identify what they are good at and how they can influence situations
- Incorporate children's assets into the design and delivery of services
Celebrating children and young people's contribution
- Provide positive feedback for things children have done well
- Build into budgets opportunities for positive experiences
- Develop a combination of personal and "treat" rewards
Reciprocal working
- Provide opportunities to act as both a recipient and provider of services
- Enable young people to self-organise themselves
- Foster a sense of shared responsibility for services
- Incorporate a sense of mutuality, empathy and respect
Growing social networks
- Enable children to use their assets to support one another
- Create opportunities for children to connect with peers and other groups in the wider community
- Recognise families, carers and community members as potential members of wider groups
Participation in action
The NCB, Crae and Participation Works' survey is still one of the most defining pieces of research undertaken into the state of participation practice among children's sector organisations and professionals. It collates the views of more than 250 participation workers and managers in local, regional and national organisations across the voluntary and statutory sectors.
The survey shows the vast majority of organisations had a participation policy or strategy in place, three-quarters involved individual children in decisions about them, while nine out of 10 said young people have a "great deal" or "some" influence in particular areas of the organisation.
Most respondents to the survey worked with young people aged 14 to 18 and with children in the care system (see graphics). The surveys also gathered views on barriers to participation. Lack of resources - both financial and practical - were the key issues identified.
Lack of support from other organisations/departments, negative attitudes towards children, and a lack of incentives for staff to promote participation were other problems raised by participation workers. Consequently, more capacity building of practitioners, better promotion of the benefits of participation, and improved measurement of the benefits of the approach were the three factors cited as the best ways to improve children's involvement in decision making.
Meanwhile, boosting long-term funding and strengthening legal frameworks were identified as the key ways government could promote participation.
Changes since 2010
This decade has seen a significant shift in policymakers' attitudes towards youth participation. In a symbolic move, MPs in 2010 voted to allow the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) to hold its annual representatives meeting in November in the House of Commons main chamber. The UKYP has seen young people consult, debate and vote on the most important issues for young people across the country, and then use the House of Commons meeting as a platform to put forward a youth agenda. More than one million young people registered their views for setting UKYP priorities in 2016.
Many government reform programmes and funding initiatives require service users to play a key role in developing and delivering provision. For example, the FLARE young advisers group to the Department for Education has been instrumental in shaping reforms to special educational needs and disability services (SEND), introduced under the Children and Families Act 2014.
Schemes backed with funding from the Children's Social Care Innovation programme have had co-production built into their design.
Minister for vulnerable children and families Edward Timpson says such initiatives represent a wider commitment by the government to involve children, young people and families in the development and delivery of services (see minister's view, below).
Amber DeRosa, participation worker at NCB, says national and local government have made great strides in promoting participation.
"Local authorities are doing a lot more than they were," she says. "They tend to have their own participation team, outreach programmes and participation workers, and there are young inspectors for health and social care services. They have started to realise that young people come up with innovative ideas and are not afraid to share them."
Sector-by-sector guide
Participation and co-production has taken root across much of the sector. Initiatives such as children in care councils empower a specific group of young people, while others aim to cut right across an organisation (see Young Hackney practice example).
Youth work has led the way on this through the creation of youth mutual organisations that build young people's views into their constitution. Organisations such as UK Youth have put co-production at the core of what they offer. It has partnered with corporate funders to develop a range of co-produced projects (see expert view, below).
Meanwhile, NEF's work in Cornwall sees young people involved in making decisions about budget priorities and who delivers services (see practice example).
Participation approaches have been particularly important in empowering young people with mental health problems. Projects such as YoungMinds' Very Important Kids and the Mental Health Foundation's Right Here helped young people express their views about their care. More recently, Open Talk - a project to train young people to train mental health workers - is helping improve outcomes by making practice more youth-focused (see practice example).
Mental health is also the focus of a programme to support young offenders, a group whose health is often overlooked. Peer leaders with experience of youth custody help them to identify their mental health needs and co-produce bespoke packages of support in an effort to reduce reoffending (see practice example).
According to DeRosa, the next step in the development of youth participation and co-production is expanding the approach to younger children. "The involvement of young people has been transforming, but younger children are also capable of having a valuable opinion," she adds.
Minister's view: Every child has right to be heard
By Edward Timpson, minister for vulnerable children and families
I know from my own family's experience that children in care and those leaving the care system in particular face barriers to achieving their full potential, which is why we are committed to supporting these often vulnerable young people towards a positive future.
The House Project in Stoke-on-Trent is a great example of how we are doing just that, helping young people leaving care by providing them with work, a place to live and the chance of a bright future. The scheme makes them co-owners and managers of a business refurbishing empty properties, which then become their homes for as long as they want.
Backed by funding from the government's £200m Children's Social Care Innovation Programme, phase one of the initiative has been spearheaded by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, but it is the young care leavers themselves who have put their stamp on and developed the programme - genuine co-production in practice.
I am pleased to announce that the second phase of the House Project, now being led by Warwickshire County Council, will receive a further £3.7m in funding from the Department for Education. This significant new money will establish additional House Projects in five local authorities, as well as a "national hub" that will draw together learning from the programme and support other local authorities across the country to implement further successful schemes.
This work is part of a wider commitment by the government to involve children, young people and families in the development and delivery of services. After all, it is only right that the people who will be using public services should have a say in what they are and how they are run.
We're doing our bit in government too, by encouraging Whitehall departments to employ care-leaver interns. Six young people have started roles in the DfE and the Department of Health. These are great career opportunities for the young people involved - but crucially they are able to give us an invaluable insight into policy making that will have a direct impact on children growing up in care.
The DfE makes it its business to hold regular meetings with children and young people and, as the minister, it is one of the best parts of the job. These are used to talk about specific issues - anything from placement stability and our Children and Social Work Bill, to what they think of plans to implement the Staying Close scheme for young people leaving care. Recently, we asked care leavers to share their experience of leaving care and where they would have welcomed additional support, as part of a series of consultation events. What they told us had a direct impact on the new cross-government care leaver strategy, Keep on Caring, published last year.
These are just some of the examples of our commitment and determination to ensuring all young people are able to go as far as their talents will take them, and this means giving every child the right to be heard on matters affecting their future.
Expert view: Co-production benefits young people, workers and communities
By Anna Smee, chief executive, UK Youth
The youth sector has historically taken a participatory approach to the development and delivery of services for young people - but genuine co-production is a relatively new kid on the block.
At UK Youth, we work with young people, youth workers and volunteers in local communities to identify their needs, co-create and co-deliver initiatives that are relevant and effective. Money for Life was created after feedback from our network highlighted that many young people were struggling to read a pay slip, understand online banking, or manage benefits and loans, and youth workers lacked sufficient financial confidence themselves to offer support. In response, we co-produced a flexible financial education programme and young people are involved in everything - from content creation, website and app design to training methodology and promotional campaigns.
Taking a co-production approach has ensured the programme meets needs that have been explicitly expressed by young people and uses approaches and tools they actually use, leading to high participation in local training sessions.
In our experience, co-production benefits all those involved. Young people develop their life skills in the process, become more motivated and expand their social networks; youth workers and volunteers thrive in an increasingly gratifying work environment that is more in tune with young people's expectations; and communities profit from stronger mutual support systems.
We have seen this on Active Youth, which is designed to engage inactive young people from deprived areas with few sports facilities in regular physical activity. Co-production sessions with young people highlighted the need for a directory of local sports they could choose from and try out. Just 12 months on, the social impact of the programme has already been significant - young people are getting involved and staying involved with sport for the first time, while also developing their emotional and social capabilities. This has paved the way for Sport England to invest in more co-produced projects designed around young people's needs.
Of course, co-production comes with its challenges. Project plans do not always match up to the expectations of funders, volunteers or youth workers who may be used to working in a different way. It is also difficult to balance national and local interests, to ensure both a consistently high quality experience for young people and locally relevant content.
In a nutshell, co-producing youth provision goes beyond consultation in decision-making processes - instead, it recognises young people as active agents and puts them at the centre of development, delivery and evaluation.
Further reading
- Children's Participation in Decision-making, CRAE, NCB, Participation Works, 2010
- A Guide to Co-producing Children's Services, Nef and Action for Children, 2009
- Children's Participation: From Tokenism to Citizenship, Roger A Hart, Unicef, 1992
- Co-production Network, Nef and Nesta