The SEND co-production toolkit is for anyone working with children and young people with SEND and/or their families, in services, schools and communities. The aim of the toolkit is to give a practical understanding of what co-production is, how effective it can be and how to do it well.

We hope the toolkit will do this by:

• giving an overview of what co-production is, and what it’s not.
• explaining our shared co-production principles for Buckinghamshire.
• giving ideas to help you to embed co-production in your work

Visit our coproduction webpages for more information about co-production in SEND services in Buckinghamshire. 

What is co-production?

Co-production is a way of working where everyone works together on an equal basis, bringing their own unique skills and experiences, to create a service or come to a decision which works for them all. Co-production is about developing equal working partnerships between young people who use services (sometimes known as ‘experts by experience’), children and their families, carers and professionals. By bringing together different perspectives, knowledge and experience, everyone can work together to help make services better or to design new services.

In other words, co-production means that the way of working is ‘done with people’ rather than ‘done to people’.

Download the toolkit [PDF 3.1 MB]