3 August 2026
By Gerard Crofton-Martin, Interim Chief Executive, SCIE
Co-production Week always provides an opportunity to pause, listen and learn. This year’s theme, ‘Care equity: who gets care?’, encouraged us to think deeply about what it really takes to create a social care system that works fairly for everyone, regardless of their background, identity or circumstances.
Across SCIE’s sessions, a wide range of perspectives were shared by people with lived experience, carers, practitioners and system leaders. Participants spoke about unequal access to information, support and decision-making; the financial pressures faced by some people drawing on care; workforce challenges that limit opportunities for meaningful engagement, and the frustration of having to fight to be heard within complex systems.
What became clear throughout the week was that co-production can be a powerful tool for identifying and addressing inequities in care, but only when the co-production itself is genuinely equitable. Otherwise, it can reinforce them.
Co-production needs to happen where people are
One of the clearest messages from the week was that equitable co-production requires us to rethink where co-production happens. Too often, participation is designed around what works for organisations rather than the people they are trying to reach; participants highlighted the importance of going into communities, working through trusted local partners, and creating opportunities for involvement in places where people already feel comfortable.
This approach can help reach people who may not usually engage with formal consultations, create space for more open and honest conversations, and provide a better understanding of the issues that matter most to different communities.
Relationships are the foundation for meaningful co-production
Participants also highlighted the importance of building trusted relationships over a sustained period of time. Strong relationships create the confidence needed for people to share honest perspectives, challenge assumptions and work through difficult issues together.
There was also widespread recognition throughout Co-production Week that this can’t be built through one-off conversations; trust develops over time through consistency and honesty. The reflections suggested that it is helpful to start small and use early conversations to support mutual understanding.
Importantly, discussions highlighted that listening to understand, not respond, was essential to building the relationships needed to support equitable co-production. Genuine understanding requires curiosity and empathy—it means recognising the complexity of people’s lives, identities and experiences.
The importance of action and feedback
Participants repeatedly emphasised the importance of understanding what happens after people have shared their experiences and ideas.
People want to know how their contributions have influenced decisions, whether priorities have changed and what improvements have been made as a result. In other words, people want to know what happens to the information they share. Without this, involvement can feel transactional rather than collaborative.
This highlights the importance of creating clear feedback loops, capturing learning and demonstrating impact. It also means moving with purpose from conversation to implementation; co-production is most powerful when people can see a direct connection between their involvement and meaningful change.
This helps demonstrate the value of co-production to people who may not yet fully understand its impact, building confidence in co-production is a practical approach to improving services and informing decisions—and, therefore, encouraging wider involvement.
Accessibility is essential to participation
Co-production depends on people being able to participate as equal partners. Throughout the week, participants highlighted that information that is unclear, inaccessible or inconsistent acts as a barrier to this.
Good, equitable co-production is only possible if people understand their rights, the decisions being made and the options available to them. Providing clear and accessible information should, therefore, be a core component.
Recognising lived experience as expertise
A further lesson from the week was that equitable co-production depends on how we recognise and value lived experience. While many organisations now acknowledge the importance of lived experience, participants challenged us to think about what that recognition looks like in practice.
A consistent message was that lived experience should be recognised as expertise and treated with the same respect as other forms of knowledge.
Importantly, recognition has to be practical and individual. Recognition will mean different things to different people and so it should be discussed and agreed with everyone. People shouldn’t be left out of pocket for helping to improve services, put at risk of financial hardship or expected to revisit difficult experiences without appropriate support. For organisations, this means thinking about recognition from the outset. Considerations such as payment, expenses, accessibility, communication, preparation, emotional safety, support and feedback are essential.
As I reflect on the week as a whole, what was made clear is that equitable co-production is not defined by a single method, framework or activity. Rather, it is shaped by a series of choices about who is involved and how they are involved. Co-production Week reminded us that achieving care equity requires giving the same level of attention to equity within our engagement and decision-making processes as we give to the services we are seeking to improve.
I would encourage anyone interested in these discussions to watch the recordings of SCIE’s Co-production Week sessions. 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, and read our new case study of SCIE’s work with Bath and North Somerset in this area.
