1 July 2026
By Patrick Wood, Chair, SCIE Co-production Steering Group, and Gerard Crofton-Martin, Interim Chief Executive, SCIE
SCIE’s first ever National Co-production Week took place in 2016, providing an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of co-production, share good practice and highlight the contribution of people who use services and carers in developing better public services. I’ve been actively involved in every co-production week since the beginning, and I’m grateful for this opportunity to reflect on my experience.
The thing that I find most striking about the past 10 years is how much longer my beard is now than it was in 2016… Although that’s undoubtedly true, I’m only joking. To begin with, Co-production Week centred on large, in-person conferences held in London. These conferences were lively affairs, attended by hundreds of people from across the UK, and included workshops designed to generate insights to inform SCIE guidance on various aspects of co-production. They featured contributions from disabled and care experienced artists and performers (Lemn Sissay and Lost Voice Guy amongst many others), and we were treated to special co-production week songs composed by the former SCIE Chief Executive, Tony Hunter (‘I Can’t Get No Co-production’ to the tune of the famous Rolling Stones number is one that stands out in my mind).
Things changed with the onset of the global pandemic in 2020, which devastated so many lives and had a disproportionate impact on disabled people and care home residents. The annual festival went online (where it’s remained ever since) and the theme of that year’s week was ‘Co-production in a Changing World’. In the blog I produced on co-production in lockdown I wrote:
“One of the consequences of the response from health and social care organisations to the emergence of COVID-19 has been to sideline ideas like co-production, to treat them as luxuries that can be explored at leisure once more important and pressing demands have been dealt with. This approach represents a form of paternalism that is diametrically opposed to the values that underpin co-production.”
Our theme in 2021 was ‘Co-production Principles and Values’ and there was a focus on sharing learning from successful local initiatives. In 2022, we looked at the impact of co-production, considering the difference it makes to individuals, organisations and communities. Our focus in 2023 was co-production in the real world and we conducted a co-production survey which concluded that to fully realise the benefits of co-production we need to continue raising awareness, forge ahead with developing more inclusive practices and work with sector leaders to ensure that co-production is integral to all future policy making in social care. In 2024, we considered the question of what is missing from co-production and in my blog that year I wrote:
“From my perspective, what’s missing in co-production is a commitment to recognising it as an agent of change. Co-production should not be treated as a jargon word, or a more impressive sounding term for tokenistic involvement, or something to be paid lip service to while maintaining the status quo. Co-production practice should result in changes to relationships, behaviour and delivery that bring recognisable benefits to everyone. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
Last year our theme was innovation through co-production, and we aimed to uncover new insights into how co-production fuels innovation in social care. The week was marked by a celebration of the life of John Evans, a long-term member and former chair of the Co-production Steering Group and a pioneer in the field of independent living. I had the privilege to know and work alongside John for many years, and I’ll be thinking of him as we start out on our exploration of care equity during Co-production Week 2026, a theme I am sure would be close to John’s heart.
— Patrick Wood
As I reflect on where we are today, I am struck by the fact that the case for co-production has never been stronger, yet the conditions in which we are trying to practise it have rarely been more challenging.
Social care continues to face significant pressures – rising demand, workforce challenges, constrained resources and growing inequalities in access to support. In this context, there can be a temptation to see co-production as something that can wait until the system is less stretched.
Our experience at SCIE, and the evidence we continue to gather, points to the opposite conclusion. Co-production is not an optional extra for better times; it is one of the most effective ways we have of ensuring that change is rooted in what matters most to people, delivers meaningful outcomes and builds trust in reform.
That message came through clearly in our recent report, ‘Shaping change together: co-producing innovation in social care’, published following Co-production Week 2025. While many professionals felt collaboration was working well enough to drive change, people who draw on social care and their families told a different story, with many reporting that they still feel excluded from decision-making and reform efforts. At the same time, our wider work on innovation through co-production has highlighted how new ideas are strongest when they are developed with people rather than for them.
As we look towards this year’s theme of care equity, the lesson is a simple but important one: reform is more likely to succeed when lived experience is present from the beginning, helping to shape priorities, challenge assumptions and ensure that change reaches those who have too often been overlooked.
Looking ahead, I believe our challenge is not simply to do more co-production, but to deepen our commitment to genuine partnership. At SCIE, co-production remains central to our vision of improvement through evidence, partnership and shared leadership. As national conversations about the future of social care continue, including wider discussions about reform and the Casey Commission, we have an opportunity to build a bigger and more inclusive conversation about what good care looks like and who gets to shape it. That means moving beyond consultation towards shared power, ensuring that voices that have too often been overlooked are heard, valued and acted upon. If we can do that, co-production will continue to be not just a way of improving services, but a force for greater equity, inclusion and lasting change across the social care system.
If you would like help to improve your co-production approach, please contact consultancy@scie.org.uk to hear more about how we can support you.
— Gerard Crofton-Martin
