Sign up to our Participation Promise to children and young people (for service providers)

This page is for people providing services to children and young people in B&NES (or in partnership with us). Use this page to learn more about our Participation Promise to service users, why it's important, how we deliver this, and to sign up to affirm your commitment to these principles. 

About the Participation Promise

The Participation Promise describes our commitment to involving children and young people and their families who use our services in decisions which affect them. 

Who the promise is for

This Promise applies from birth to :

• age 19, for all children and young people
• age 25, for Looked After Children, Care Leavers and young people with a disability

Professionally, the Participation Promise guides our teams who work:

• directly with children and young people
• on the commissioning or management of services for children and young people
• with organisations whose work affects children and young people

This also includes our recognition that the participation of parents and carers is important, to ensure improvements to children and young people's services.

The promises and rights we are committed to

When we meet with a child or young person, we will keep these five promises:

• We will listen to what they say.
• We will respect them for who they are.
• We will help them understand decisions that we make.
• We will let them know what will happen next.
• We will share our decisions with them.

Children and young people have five rights to help them feel more confident to ask questions of the adults working with them:

• The right to be treated fairly
• The right to information they can understand
• The right to make some choices
• The right to have a say
• The right to know how we consider and their your views to make decisions

The rationale behind the Participation Promise

Participation improves services

Participation is important for the children and young people who are receiving services from us. Only they have the insight into their own needs. They have the right to influence their care and the services they receive, and to get the opportunities to exercise that right. 

As staff who make decisions affecting children and young people, we need to have the skills, time and resources to ensure that the ‘Voice of the Child’ is clearly heard, and is represented in the work we do. 

The benefits of participation

Participation brings many benefits, and has been shown to improve outcomes in services for children and young people. Select a topic below to read more about the impact this can have on everyone involved.

For children and young people 

• Increasing their self-worth, self-esteem and confidence
• Being able to take control of their lives and influence the decisions which affect them
• Developing skills such as negotiation, problem solving, raising awareness of their own needs, and the needs of others
• Making positive contributions and long-term changes

For parents, carers and families

• Gaining an insight from, and meeting the needs of, children and young people
• Changing their perceptions about themselves as adults
• Shared decision making

For us as your council 

• Services becoming more responsive to the needs of all children and young people
• Gaining fresh perspectives and new ideas about how services can be delivered
• Being more effective in delivering the right services

For the wider community 

• Seeing children and young people as active and engaged citizens
• Giving children and young people a greater voice and influence on what happens within our communities

Achieving participation at different levels

In B&NES, we are committed to the active participation of children, young people and your families, wherever possible. We are guided by the Ladder of Participation Model, and aim to encourage full participation wherever possible.

Professor Roger Hart produced the Ladder of Participation for UNICEF in 1992. The ladder describes eight ascending levels of decision-making agency, control, and power that can be given to children and youth by adults.

However, we recognise that there are different levels of engagement that may suit some children, young people and their families at different times. For example, some service users may want to:

• just be informed
• be informed and consulted
• be actively involved in both decision making and service delivery

Our vision and values

Since 2000, we have been signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 12 states that 'children and young people have a right to be involved in all decisions that affect their lives.'Our vision is that children and young people will be well prepared for adult life, and we will listen to what they tell us, so they can influence change.

Our strategic objectives for children and young people are set out in our Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2023 to 2030. The Strategy's first priority is to ensure that children and young people are healthy and ready for learning.

View our Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP, 2024 to 2030), which shows how we will put the first priority of this strategy into action, by focusing on emotional health and wellbeing.

How we deliver the Participation Service in B&NES

We have policy and strategy groups within B&NES that focus on Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) and global majority young people. However, our Participation Service and advocacy service for children and young people with SEND or who are part of the Looked After Cohort are commissioned services, delivered in partnership with Off the Record. They work with the groups In Care Councils and Youth Forum, in partnership with the wider Youth Networks across B&NES. They also run participation training sessions for all staff twice a year. View more detail on how the service is delivered. 

All of our commissioned services must meet the Six Standards of Participation and undertake an annual review of these standards as part of their monitoring.

Read more about The Six Standards of Participation for Commissioned Services 

1. Young people are given a range of opportunities to give feedback on the service they receive and are clear about how that feedback will be used.
2. Young people are encouraged and supported to participate in, and contribute to, service delivery.
3. We aim to ensure that young people in minority groups (such as SEND, LGBTQ+, global majority populations, Looked After Children and Care Leavers) have equal opportunity to participate within our organisation.
4. We take account of the emotional and economic impact of the cost-of-living crisis and the repercussions of Covid, and aim to ensure that these factors aren't barriers to the participation of young people and their families.
5. We have a clear commitment to participation within our organisation, which all staff are aware of.
6. Sufficient budget is allocated to support participation.

Promote the Participation Promise to service users

Download our resources on the Participation Promise. These include an overview of how we deliver this policy commitment, and promotional material explaining the five promises and rights.  You can may want to display these where you work, as an affirmation for staff and to encourage service users of our commitment to their participation in decisions about their services. 

Sign up

Affirm your professional commitment, or that of your organisation, by signing up to the Participation Promise. Get in touch, and we'll add your name to our register of signatories.