Co-production in social care: what it is and how to do it (Guide)

This is a guide to what co-production is and how to develop co-productive approaches to working with people who use services and carers. It is aimed at managers and commissioners, frontline practitioners and people who use services and carers.The first section looks at what co-production is and the principles on which co-productive approaches should be based. It also outlines the policy context, including how co-production relates to the Care Act 2014 and personalisation, the economic impact of co-production. The second section provides guidance on how to put co-production approaches in organisations and projects into action. It makes recommendations on the key changes that organisations need to make to develop co-production approaches structured around a jigsaw model of the management of change. This brings together four important areas of change: culture, structure, practice and review. The guide is based on three sources of evidence: a review of the evidence from 15 studies of co-production that were published in peer-reviewed journals; additional literature identified by SCIE staff and the Project Advisory Group.