Co-producing a strategy will help to ensure that decisions about housing for autistic adults and adults with a learning disability, priorities and investment opportunities are in line with the needs of the local community. Co-production will benefit the strategy case by helping the partnership with:
- A better understanding of people’s vision, aspirations, and housing needs.
- Understanding new unmet needs previously not identified.
- Increasing the level of buy-in and uptake of the strategy, in particular the housing with care and support options proposed, thereby facilitating implementation and upscaling.
- Developing a collaborative relationship between partners, customers, and stakeholders that will be key for delivering housing options for autistic adults and adults with a learning disability.
As well as the benefits outlined above, co-production will help the partnership navigate the different steps of the toolkit. The guidance supports co-production for each step of the toolkit, and the strategy as a whole, and is rooted in SCIE’s principles for co-production, presented below.
It is not assumed that those involved in a housing partnership would already be experienced in co-production and so they may need support and skills development. Similarly, autistic adults and adults with a learning disability and others in the community who participate in co-production may benefit from additional support with some activities and opportunities to gain skills for them to fully engage and contribute. It may help to view it as a joint journey where no one starts off with all the answers, but everyone is willing to learn.
Principles of co-production
Equality – one of the key benefits of co-producing a business case is to gain insights from and share decision-making power with people who are experts in their own housing, care and support needs. Their views are key to the successful delivery of housing options for autistic adults and adults with a learning disability and their input should have equal weight in deciding the development priorities proposed in the business plan.
Diversity – it is key to ensure that the co-production process is inclusive and that all key groups are represented. All groups should also be able to confidently express their views and the decision-making process should reflect an accurate representation of local people’s needs.
Accessibility – It is fundamental to maximise people’s involvement and to ensure that individuals feel confident and motivated to fully engage in discussions and decision-making. This means ensuring that individuals have the same conditions and opportunities to take part in the process and that barriers are removed. It includes creating a friendly environment, and adapting ways of information sharing and discussion to meet the needs of different groups, thereby facilitating their involvement.
Reciprocity – This is a key concept in co-production and has been defined as ensuring that people benefit from their contributions and everyone ‘receives something back from putting something in’. The idea has been linked to ‘mutuality’ and all parties involved having responsibilities and expectations. Putting reciprocity into practice can help to create a sense of togetherness. There is no doubt that people with lived experience can offer invaluable expertise, and it is important to consider offering payment for their contribution and time.
‘I’ and ‘We’ statements
To support the development of the business case for housing for autistic adults and adults with a learning disability, we have outlined a set of statements to highlight the types of co-production outcomes associated with each of the steps. Please note that these statements are illustrative, and we encourage housing partnerships to adapt them as they see fit to best reflect their local context. The statements are divided in ‘I’ statements that suggest key outcomes for individuals co-producing the step, and ‘We’ statements that suggest actions and outcomes to be delivered by the partnership facilitating the development of the strategy. This approach is based on TLAP’s (Think Local, Act Personal) ‘Making it Real’ framework that aims to facilitate the personalisation of care and support. The framework has been applied in different areas of social care including in Care Quality Commission Assessment Framework and on people’s tenancy agreement in different local authorities. Further information can be found here.
SCIE and TLAP have developed guidance on how to effectively plan and run co-production. This guidance can be helpful to support the co-production of the business case and give insights on how to effectively include people with lived experience in the decision-making process. More details can be found on ‘Co-production: what it is and how to do it’ and summary along with practice examples can be found here.
Useful links
- Where I Want to Live – Where I want to live toolkit
- The Challenging Behaviour Foundation – Co-production best practice
- Housing LIN TAPPI – Co-production guide
- Housing LIN CollaborAGE – Co-production and community approaches
- Brain in Hand – Step-by-step practical guide to co-producing with autistic people
- SCIE – Tackling inequalities in care for people with learning disabilities and autistic people
- SCIE – Supporting co-production
- Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) – Co-production resources
- Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) – Make it Real Framework