What is co-production?

Co-production is when people come together as equals to make decisions or create services that work for them all. This always includes people who draw on care and support and/or carers, usually alongside people who work in care and support. It is based on the idea that those who draw upon care and support are the best placed to decide how it should work.

Where can co-production be used?

Co-production can be used to change the way that care and support works for just one person, for a group of people, or for a large number of people. We can think of this as co-production at different levels.

At an individual level, people can come together to co-produce how a single person’s care and support works for them.

At a service level, people can come together to co-produce projects or services together.

At a strategic level, people can come together to co-produce how an organisation will work in the future. This might be by creating a plan or strategy, or new laws.

What does good co-production look like?

When co-production works best, people who use services and carers are valued by
organisations as equal partners, can share power and have influence over decisions made.

Decisions are made together, so everybody has a real say in what happens. For co-production to be done well, all of the work is done together from start to finish.

You can learn more about what good co-production looks like in our Top 10 Tips document, and find examples of co-production in practice on our Co-production Hub. You can also learn about the steps that lead towards good co-production through our Ladder of Co-production.

What ingredients are important for co-production to work?

The National Co-production Advisory Group talks about four ingredients that are really important for co-production. These are:

Equality: Co-production starts from the idea that no one group or person is more important than anyone else, and everyone has skills, abilities and time to contribute.

Diversity: Co-production should be as inclusive and diverse as possible. It is important to make sure that people from different groups are included, and especially people from groups that might not often be heard.

Accessibility: Making everything accessible is the way to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to work together in the ways that suit them best.

Recognition: People are contributing their time, knowledge and experience to work together, so this should be recognised and respected. This should include paying people for their time and expertise, but the respect also comes from the more equal relationships that develop between everyone involved.

How can I learn more about co-production?

You can learn more about co-production on our Co-production Hub, which we add new resources to regularly.

Another useful document is ‘Co-production in social care: what it is and how to do it’. This document itself was co-produced by the National Co-production Advisory Group, Think Local Act Personal and the Social Care Institute for Excellence.