Warwickshire County Council — Embedding Co-production
A six-month project of online and in-person workshops reflecting on co-production (2024).
After taking part in Not Another Co-production Project, Warwickshire’s Co-production Leads identified a need to strengthen co-production across adult social care. While commissioning teams had developed their understanding, this was not yet consistent across the wider workforce. Good practice existed, but it was not embedded as a shared culture.
The challenge was twofold: to help staff see that co-production is not only about high-level strategies, but about everyday interactions that shape people’s lives; and to build fair, supportive structures for involving Experts by Experience (EbEs), including proper recruitment, support, and payment for their expertise.
Warwickshire County Council wanted to create a shared understanding of co-production, strengthen honest and transparent relationships, improve communication across teams, and provide spaces to exchange stories and learning. They aimed to develop a Practice Framework shaped by co-production at every level, make it the default way of working, and continue recruiting diverse Experts by Experience, including people who do not communicate with words or whose first language is not English. The ambition was clear: move from isolated examples of good practice to a consistent, countywide approach.
Curators of Change worked alongside Warwickshire and its growing team of EbEs to support this shift. The focus was practical and relational, helping staff understand what co-production looks like in daily practice while strengthening connections with people who draw on care and support.
Recognising how stretched practitioners are, we chose to “go to where people are,” attending Adult Social Care team meetings rather than creating additional demands on staff time. Over six months, 17 workshops were delivered to more than 200 practitioners, facilitated by six Experts by Experience. Learning was regularly fed back to senior leaders to maintain momentum.
The programme combined interactive workshops using local stories to spark discussion; story gathering, enabling people to share lived experiences in their own words; structured evaluation and reflection; and informal “Over a Brew” sessions that created safe, honest spaces for conversation.
This work helped staff connect co-production directly to their day-to-day roles while shaping wider system change. Stories and insights informed the development of a new Practice Framework and a “Working Together Charter” grounded in lived experience.
The impact has been both personal and organisational. Staff valued the opportunity to reflect and engage in genuine two-way dialogue. Hearing lived experiences first-hand encouraged greater emotional awareness in practice. One participant described the sessions as “empowering and insightful,” while another said the brave space poem shared during a session was something they “won’t forget.”
For Experts by Experience, the process brought recognition, fairer structures, and real influence. Their voices became central to shaping the Practice Framework. Staff and EbEs learned together that they share the same goal: care and support that is truly about people. Relationships began shifting from defensiveness toward openness and trust, with curiosity opening conversations full of possibility.
Ripple Mapping sessions showed how small changes in conversations were already influencing wider practice. New connections formed across teams, and co-production increasingly came to be seen not as an add-on, but as a way of working that belongs everywhere.
Warwickshire’s experience shows that when co-production is grounded in relationships, stories, and everyday practice, it can create immediate benefits while laying the foundations for lasting cultural change. Sustaining this progress now rests with the committed team of Experts by Experience, Co-production Leads, and local leaders, ensuring co-production continues to shape the future of social care in Warwickshire.