Citizen engagement has always played some part in public services, but it’s usually been ignored, under-managed, and at worst seen as a distraction.

This needs to change. Paid professional roles will always be essential, but services should by default involve members of the public as producers as well as consumers.

Nesta has been working in this space for five years, encouraging public services to open up to people power and backing innovations that mobilise citizens to support one another.

Many effective models of people powered public services already exist. They include:

• Services involving deep, intensive volunteering, in the way Shared Lives supports adults with learning disabilities.
• Regular, formal volunteering in public services, like hospital volunteers and Special Constables.
• Services that make space for families and friends to help each other, like Patient Hotels.
• Models that tap into people’s willingness to ‘give back’ or support others in similar situations, such as peer support for people with diabetes or volunteer tutoring for young people.

The challenge now is to spread the models these programmes have helped.

Alongside local action, further national policy initiatives could significantly increase the pace of change. We’ve set out recommendations for key policies government could adopt, across the following themes:

• Health and ageing
• Education and young people
• Employment
• Making the shift to people powered services across government