Setting up a People's Panel to explore a community's experience of the increased cost of living – Cheshire East Council

Cheshire East Council is the largest local authority by area (1,165 square kilometres) in the north west of England and the third largest by population (398,800) after Manchester and Liverpool. Bordering both Greater Manchester and the Peak District, Cheshire East is a relatively new unitary authority formed from the breakup of the old Cheshire County Council in April 2009. That recent change, along with the existence of over 100 parish and town councils within the area, means that many residents do not see ‘Cheshire East’ a place in its own right but identify with their local area and/or the historic and ceremonial county of Cheshire. Inequalities between different places within the county can be stark. For example the area is home to the so-called 'Golden Triangle' of affluent towns and villages like Alderley Edge and Wilmslow as well as deprived wards in urban areas like Crewe and Macclesfield.

Cheshire East Council had traditionally relied on formal, conventional and digital methods to canvass the views and needs of residents. Often these resulted in self selecting groups of residents having their say, while others were heard less clearly. For example, council officers struggled to reach digitally deprived people, such as rural residents without broadband access or people in poverty who could not always afford mobile data packages.

In 2021, the council adopted a new corporate plan, which set out a vision for “an open, fairer, greener Cheshire East”. The plan included commitments to “listen, learn and respond to residents, promoting opportunities for two-way conversation” as well as “[developing] the services of the council through regular communication and engagement with all residents”. This encouraged council officers to pursue a refreshed approach to consultation and engagement, empowering them to explore new participatory methods.

The corporate plan was launched in the context of pandemic recovery and a cost of living crisis. All aspects of the council’s work were being challenged by the growing financial pressures faced by residents. Meanwhile, a decade of unprecedented reductions in government funding had put pressure on budgets. Cheshire East Council was, therefore, open to new approaches to engaging residents in finding new ways to tackle complex challenges.

The council worked with Positive Money, a not-for-profit, non-partisan, research and campaigning organisation, to run a People’s Panel exploring the question: 'What can be done to make life more affordable for those most affected by the rising cost of living?'. The People’s Panel was a form of 'citizens' jury', where a representative sample of local residents came together to deliberate over a complex or controversial issue. 22 residents met for 15 hours over two consecutive weekends to increase their understanding of the cost of living crisis, how it affects local people and develop recommendations for what Cheshire East Council, local communities and Government can do to help.

Ahead of assembling the panel, Cheshire East Council and Positive Money ran an extensive promotional campaign, which also allowed the Council to capture views and ideas from other residents. Local third sector organisations, libraries, town and parish councils were used to get the message out to communities. An online survey, hosted by Polis, generated 323 responses and 366 statements of ideas. Over 20,761 online votes were cast in support of ideas. This wider activity helped generate over 100 applications to join the panel, which were received by phone and online.

An algorithm was used to randomly select a representative sample of residents to make up the panel. It took into account various factors, including urban or rural location, gender, age, disability, caring responsibilities, employment status and responses to behavioural insights questions. The project team was proactive in ensuring that, given the overall ethnic diversity (96 per cent white) and affluence of Cheshire East, the panel included non-white members and people with lived experience of financial hardship.

Each panel member received a £150 voucher incentive payment in recognition of their time and was personally phoned before meetings to ensure they were comfortable and ready to participate. The weekend meetings were made up of deliberative workshops led by four independent facilitators. The panel heard from expert speakers from organisations like Cheshire East Council, Citizens Advice, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Trussell Trust and Nantwich Food Bank. After listening and discussion, they developed a series of recommendations and used voting to prioritise them. These have been presented to the council, who have committed to respond in early 2023.

The People’s Panel cost just under £20,000 to run. About £12,000 of this was funded by Positive Money, while Cheshire East Council spent about £8,000 on venues, incentive payments and other costs. This money was secured by repurposing some of an existing budget for a resident survey and public health activities.

The Cheshire East People’s Panel has generated a series of recommendations for action for the council.

One success has been the fact that many of the recommendations were in line with the vision set out in the corporate plan and the aspirations of elected councillors. Council staff were pleasantly surprised by how much the People’s Panel acted as a catalyst for further engagement, as panel members continued the conversations with others in their communities.

The exercise was well received by the wider public, thanks in part to the online survey. Residents have generally welcomed the Council’s commitment to do more and better engagement. Elected councillors were pleased, seeing the panel as a tangible expression of the values set out in the corporate plan. Panel members bonded well and several friendships blossomed during those two October weekends. The atmosphere at the workshops was observed by council officers to be more interactive and respectful than typically seen at public meetings hosted by the council.

Inspired by the success of the People’s Panel, Cheshire East Council is developing plans to adopt participatory methods in other areas. Methods being explored include subject specific panels, a citizens' assembly pilot, a standing or year-long assembly / panel exploring a range of issues and procuring an external facilitator on a long term contract to work with multiple exercises.

The council recognises that the £20,000 total cost makes this specific method relatively expensive, if considered in cost per panel member. The funding from Positive Money was crucial to starting the project. So their focus is on taking the learning from this experience into multiple areas of consultation and engagement, rather than expecting to repeat the same experience regularly. At the same time, by reviewing all existing consultation activity the council aims to repurpose some funding which is currently used for traditional or non-participatory consultation methods towards future activities like the People’s Panel.

• Setting up and running the People’s Panel was made more difficult by various bureaucratic procedures in the council. Officers found themselves having to invent new processes and drive through procurement hurdles, which threatened to hold up the project. As this was the first time such an activity had been attempted, no templates existed for securing the necessary permissions and resources from other sections of the council. In the end, the tenacity of officers and the need to deliver on time-bound commitments made to the partner organisation, Positive Money, ensured everything worked out. However, a more agile and less risk averse approach to project and resource management is needed if participatory methods like this are to be adopted more widely.
   
• The combination of well facilitated in-person gatherings, utilising an interactive online tool like Polis, made the People’s Panel more inclusive and effective. It ensured that the project had broader legitimacy in the local population, as well as enriching the deliberation in the room. Panel members were exposed to a wider range of views and encouraged to move beyond their prior personal positions to consider the common good. The use of carousel roundtable questioning, instead of the standard panel Q and A format, helped foster a more collaborative, deliberative atmosphere.
   
• The People’s Panel showed that residents are willing to commit large amounts of time to working with the council to develop solutions to big problems if it is clear that the gatherings are inspiring, well organised and facilitated. Because it was such a collaborative and deliberative experience, participants felt empowered to share deep and powerful personal stories, which would never have been shared in a survey or traditional consultation. Furthermore, it acted as a catalyst for community conversations as panel members, inspired by the experience, voluntarily tested potential recommendations with friends and neighbours between sessions. Stimulating this sort of dynamic engagement, which doesn’t rely on direct council oversight, is vital for connecting to people who are not usually heard.

• Video: Participatory Democracy – Cheshire East Council’s People’s Panel
• Video: Learning from the Cheshire East People's Panel on the Cost of Living
• People’s Panel website
• People’s Panel announcement
• Reflections from one of the facilitators