A core tool for consultation planning

Citizens’ panels are the core of many local authority community consultation toolkits. While how they operate and what each council expects from them is specific to their circumstances, the overriding aim is to collect robust and representative opinions from the local community – and this requires excellent planning and attention to detail.

Wakefield Citizens’ Panel

Wakefield District Partnership (the LSP for the district) asked QA to create a new citizens’ panel in 2005. Their aim was to use the panel to deliver on their commitment to consultation, help local people feel they can influence decisions by expressing their views on local services or issues, and show that the Partnership acts on the results of consultation.

Our experience of building and managing panels told us we needed to achieve three key objectives if the panel was to become a success:

1. To ensure the panel provides robust intelligence and represents the profile of the wider community throughout its life
2. To design research materials which were robust enough to collect the information the Partnership needed but were also user-friendly
3. To ensure the Partnership is seen to respond to genuine concerns and issues raised by panellists

These objectives were achieved by careful recruitment planning and strict adherence to quality management processes. We also advised on the length of surveys and the tone of recruitment materials sent to prospective panellists. Finally, panellists received the results of each subsequent survey as they emerged.

Creating a basis for sustainable community engagement

The panel surveys regularly achieve robust response rates over 65%, including online completions. However, we recognise that panels also have limitations when it comes to engaging minority and vulnerable communities. To complement the core panel surveys we have developed parallel research tools for engaging hard to reach BME groups, migrant workers and other vulnerable communities. This joined-up approach to consultation is helping the Wakefield District Partnership deliver against need and experience across diverse communities.

QA Research manages many panels, including those in Barnsley, Castle Point, Harlow, Derby, the Isle of Wight, Kettering, Leeds and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. We also run a qualitative panel in Essex.