Context of co-production in social care

In social care, co-production means working with people rather than for them. It’s a shift away from traditional models where care is delivered by professionals to passive recipients, and towards a partnership approach, that is, one that recognises the insight and experience of people receiving support as essential to getting things right.

Co-production invites people giving and receiving support to shape care services together: from the way a single team works, to how a whole organisation or system is run. At its heart, it’s about relationships, shared ownership and mutual respect.

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Key Principles in Practice

These principles guide how co-production shows up in social care - not just as theory, but in how people treat one another:

• Equality Everyone’s knowledge and perspective matter. Lived experience carries as much weight as professional training.

• Reciprocity The care relationship is one of give and take. Everyone involved brings something of value, and everyone benefits.

• Respect Personal histories, identities and experiences are acknowledged and honoured. People are not reduced to a set of needs or diagnoses.

• Empowerment People are supported to take an active role in shaping the care and support they receive and in shaping the systems behind it.

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Co-production in social care is not a one-size-fits-all model. It looks different in different places, but when it’s done well, it leads to care that is more responsive, more humane, and more likely to last.