Co-production Priority Actions 2026/27
- Embed co-production as a core element of the region’s Improvement for All programme
- Use Local Accounts to strengthen how lived experience and outcomes are reflected
- Improve use of feedback from people drawing on support and family carers
- Support lived experience involvement in shaping local service priorities
- Share effective co-production practice across the region
- Scope a Lived Experience Leadership pathway
Image shows WM ADASS Improvement for All meeting on 22 April 2026 where members of the Co-production Advisory Group presented to more than 100 people from councils and partners in the region
Highlights of 2025/26 activity
- The WM ADASS AI Playbook, coproduced with the Digital Network, used advisory group members’ experience to illustrate the benefits and challenges of using AI to support unpaid carers and those accessing services
- Advisory group members acted as quality improvement partners for another Digital Network project which reviewed the presentation of care technologies on council websites
- Across the WM ADASS thematic Networks advisory group members have got involved to strengthen the voice of lived experience and contribute to the quality of thinking
- Our network for co-production leads in councils, provides peer support and an opportunity to collaborate on challenging hurdles that get in the way of co-production e.g. strategies, plans, participation policies
- Individually and collectively, advisory group members have contributed their lived experience to the Casey Review, CQC Assurance and Evaluation, the Unpaid carers DP framework, Practice Reviews, the WM ADASS Research Programme, the Ernst and Young Four Futures initiatives, the ADASS Spring Seminar 2026, NCASC 2025, and the ICIC26 Conference.
What we have learned in 2025-26
- Co-producing the AI Playbook has encouraged members to access AI to better understand social care legislation and their rights.
- Our Advisory Group acts as a in house market research function that’s priceless and saves money and time.
- Strengthening the voice of lived experience in WM ADASS Networks has strengthened relationships and improved the way we collaborate both nationally and locally.
- The Co-production Leads Network provides peer support which has accelerated progress in problem solving and learning from real practice
- The increase in our activity across WN ADASS programmes shows that co-production isn’t just a project anymore, but part of how we lead and learn
- Co-production and EDI go hand in and strengthen research approaches and opportunities.
- Lived experience advisory group members are among the region’s greatest assets and strongest allies
- Lived experience members are learning from involvement our sessions as much as we are learning from them
Video: what good co-production looks like
The full version of this video, made from the recording of the Co-production Advisory Group meeting on 9 May 2023, can be seen in our video gallery.
The lived experience of caring
The West Midlands Carers Conference, organised by the Carers' Network, was held in Birmingham on 16 July. We have published a series of videos from the event on the Carers' Network page including 'I am a Carer', which focuses on the lived experience of caring.
Lived experience and social work practice reviews
Practice reviews are key part of the WM ADASS Peer Challenge process, a key part of the region's improvement programme. The Co-production Advisory Group has been working with the Practice Review team on how best to engage people with lived experience in this process. A video about how members of the Group can get involved in WM-ADASS's peer review programme is available from this link.
Lived experience, co-production and innovation in housing
In September 2022, WM-ADASS ran a conference on social care and housing, in collaboration with the TSA and the Housing LIN.
There was a strong thread about co-production running through the day and some of this was captured in a short video based on interviews with conference participants. The video (and others from the event) can be accessed from the page about housing in the Improvement section of this website.
Co-production expenses and participation fees policy
West Midlands ADASS recognises the importance of working in co-production with people who use services and carers. We have created a document that sets out clear and consistent expenses and participation fee arrangements for people with lived experience who input into our regional improvement programme.
WM-ADASS: the journey towards co-production
The video 'Towards Co-production', presented below (scroll down page), describes our approach and plans for 2022/23, building on our in work with TLAP in 2021-22, and discussed in a series of workshops at the ADASS Spring Seminar.