Case studies

Haringey introduced a theory of change planning tool to support development of its early years strategy, working with stakeholders to identify change priorities.

In 2012, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, through its Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB), created a short development programme. It was intended to bring a greater focus and coherence to the work being undertaken across the borough to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities. The programme was designed to:

The Open University ‘Healthy Homes' research project was commissioned in 2014 by the Public Health and Regeneration teams in Milton Keynes Council as part of the evaluation of the Lakes Estate refurbishment programme for council owned properties.

Involving older people case studies Leeds City Council created a website where older people, their relatives and carers, could find the right information quickly. To support older people's engagement with the website, the team have since set up a network of computer training courses.

GoCA was made up of representatives from local community groups in Govanhill and was held accountable for its spend by the local community. The group was supported by Oxfam's UK Poverty Programme in Scotland, which helped facilitate the participatory budgeting process and bridged the perceived gap between public sector workers and GoCA members.

Participatory budgeting was created in Porto Alegre, a city of 1.3 million people in Brazil, in 1989. It is widely considered the biggest and most successful use of participatory budgeting in the world with 17,200 citizens involved at its peak in 2002. It has had powerful redistributive impacts as well becoming embedded in the institutional structure of municipal government.

Through Local Area Coordination, service users stay strong, safe and connected in communities which are more welcoming, inclusive and supportive. As a result, they can find practical, non-service solutions to problems and generally avoid the use of acute front-line services which are increasingly unaffordable.

Central Government is promoting the role of staff-led mutuals in the delivery of public services.

In September 2014 NHS Citizen – a national programme giving the public a say on healthcare matters within NHS England – ran a full-scale test assembly which consisted of around 200 patients, carers, activists, volunteers, third sector and public services workers who came together to discuss agenda items chosen by citizens.