The National Advisory Forum: 2022 to 2023

Co-production is about giving people who are impacted by what we do an opportunity to participate in and influence our work. One of the main principles that guides us is that we must always listen to, engage with and co-produce alongside those who are influenced by our work. Our National Advisory Forum are integral to this.

Individuals in the forum are often involved in specific projects. Alongside this, the forum meets as a collective every 2 months. This year, we held 2 hybrid meetings, with many members getting together at our office in Sheffield.

It has been another busy 12 months for the forum. During the year the forum have been involved in the co-production of over 50 pieces of work. This has included working across all areas of the organisation, such as (all of the following):

• fitness to practise
• engagement
• equality, diversity and inclusion
• people and development

Key highlights for 2022 to 2023

Some key pieces of work co-produced with the forum include:

• our strategy for 2023 to 2026. Forum members were involved throughout its development. This included the initial planning stages, the delivery of events with the sector, and the development of the strategy itself
• our Social Work in England: State of the nation 2023 report. Forum members were part of the steering group, overseeing content and sourcing case studies for the report. They also wrote an open letter thanking the profession, acknowledging good practice and sharing words of encouragement
• for Social Work Week 2023, members sat in on both the planning and delivery group and the steering group. They helped to shape the programme, identify contributors and review submissions. They were also heavily involved in the delivery of the week and our evaluation, measuring the success of the week

Delivering co-production training

We wanted to further embed the importance of co-production across the organisation. To achieve this, we co-produced and delivered co-production training once a month to people across the whole organisation. The training embeds the core principles of co-production and how to apply it in our work as the regulator.

Supporting day to day delivery

Members represent the forum on a variety of different committees and groups across the organisation. This includes (each of the following):

• our decision review group. This group meets monthly to review and quality assure fitness to practise decision making
• the policy committee. A board member chairs this committee, and executive directors attend. The committee provides the opportunity to look at policy issues in detail and provide challenge to what the organisation is doing and planning.
• the education and training advisory forum. We established this to provide an opportunity for social work education stakeholders to meet, share, discuss and act as a critical friend to Social Work England on matters relating to social work education and training. This is as set out in our approach to social work education and training

Members of the forum have also been involved in the recruitment process for a number of leadership roles, including at executive director level, assistant director level and head of department level.

The British Journal of Social Work

Members of the forum with lived experience of social work came together to write an article about their role on the forum. This was published in the British Journal of Social Work special issue: Voice and Influence of People with Lived experience.

Most importantly, we know that co-production can have a hugely positive impact on the people involved. As forum member Ify Nwokoro describes:

“Since joining the National Advisory Forum and beginning my journey in co-production, my self-esteem, belief in the systems that affect me and ability to communicate my experiences as they are relevant in any given situation, have all skyrocketed. I am a far more confident person and no longer feel as alone as I once did in the early days of my career in disability awareness.”

Next steps

We are now looking ahead to the next business year where we will be (doing all of the following):

• recruiting new members to the forum
• developing a second iteration of the co-production training
• continuing to develop and improve the way that we co-produce as an organisation

You can also read about other ways to get involved.