Buckinghamshire Involving Children and Young People

In Commissioning Guidance

1.Introduction.

This document provides practical guidance to help organisations involve children and young people in the commissioning of services. The Guidance covers children and young people up to 19 years and in the case of disabled young people or those in receipt of after care services those up to 25. It has been produced in order to support organisations to involve children and young people using a consistent and effective approach.

The Guidance is based on the feedback received from children, young people and staff that have been involved in commissioning or supported children and young people in this process. It should be noted that it is intended to help organisations rather than impose a method upon them.

It is important to recognise that some organisations already involve children and young people in commissioning very successfully. However, this good practice needs to be widened over a realistic period of time, so that as many organisations as possible can benefit from the excellent contribution to commissioning children and young people make.

This Guidance has been approved by the Buckinghamshire Children and Young People’s Trust Board and commended for use by all partners delivering services to children and young people in Buckinghamshire.

2.What is Commissioning?

A definition of commissioning has been adopted in Buckinghamshire based on the definition in “Vision to Reality: Transforming Outcomes for Children and Families, 2004 Inter Agency Group”:

“The process of assessing need, identifying resources available, planning how to use the resources, arranging service delivery (as opposed to operational management), and reviewing the service and reassessing need ….. Commissioning creates the levers for change ….. Integrated commissioning will bring innovation, value for money and improved services that cut waste and duplication.”

This reflects the Department of Children, Families and Schools (DCSF) Commissioning Cycle:

3.Why involve children and children and young people?

The Children Act 1989 determines the duty for local authorities to consider the wishes and feelings of children when adults make decisions about them.

In December 1991 the UK Government signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Article 12 in the Convention outlines the right for children to give their opinion on all matters affecting them. This includes decisions made in their families, education, public services and decisions made in local and national policies.

The Buckinghamshire Children’s Joint Commissioning Strategy 2007/10 states that:

“Children, young people, their families and communities must participate meaningfully.”

Children and young people should be actively involved in the commissioning process to ensure that those services commissioned are relevant, appropriate and likely to be used. If services are commissioned which reflect the needs and views of children and young people they are far more likely to be effective and have positive outcomes for the families of Buckinghamshire.

4.Benefits of involving children and young people.

What are some of the benefits of involving children and young people in commissioning?

Benefits to children and young people:

  • Their ideas are valued and influence the services provided for them.
  • Opportunity to gain valuable experience, skills build confidence and self esteem.
  • Encourages them to get involved in other areas which affect their lives.
  • Supports skills that can be demonstrated on their Record of Achievement or CV.

Benefits to the organisation:

  • Far more likely to commission the best provider – this leads to improved delivery of services.
  • Sends out a clear message to all that the views of children and young people are valued and have a real impact.
  • Provides real evidence for Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, for Hear by Right and inspections e.g. Ofsted, Comprehensive Area Assessment.

Benefits to the providers:

  • Get the opportunity to interact with children and young people who they will be working with or providing services for.
  • Strengthens relationships with children, young people and families.

Quotes from children and young people

'I enjoy being involved in Commissioning panels because the process concentrates on services for young people and that is more important than looking at individual jobs. I learnt how important young people's voices are and that we have as much right as anyone else to be heard. It has also built up my confidence a lot. (Crystal, aged 17, Independent Visitor and Advocacy Service for Looked after Children, Connexions and Young People's Substance Misuse Service)

'Its great and gives me the opportunity to know what its like on the other side of the interview and know what to expect when I am being interviewed.' (Evan, aged 13, Independent Visitor and Advocacy Service for Looked after Children

Quotes from adults

“Young people add value to the interview process in both staff recruitment and commissioning services for children and young people.” (Commissioning and Development Manager, Connexions)

“The involvement of young people in the tender process proved invaluable. They each brought their own perspective to the process and took their role very seriously to ensure the service met the needs of all young people. They asked searching questions, and both challenged and informed those involved in the process. They were fully involved in the decision making and very pleased that their opinions counted towards the final scoring of the tenders. They found the experience both enjoyable and informative. One said “it was good to think our work would make the service better for young people to get help”.

I would not consider undertaking a tender process without the involvement of young people, as their engagement adds the ‘real life’ dimension needed to ensure the services are developed around young people.” (Specialist Children’s Commissioner, Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust).

“Young people are excellent judges of what a service/provider should offer and what meets their needs. If we are able to commission a service for young people selected by young people, the chances of achieving better outcomes are much higher.” (Commissioner,

Children and Young People’s Services, Buckinghamshire County Council)

“Young people were invaluable in our commissioning process as they gave us the important perspective on what young people want from substance misuse services, which was used to make the final decision on who to offer the contract to. Additionally their honesty was very useful.” Young People's Co-ordinator and Commissioner, Buckinghamshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team

5.Areas and Methods of Involvement

Ideally children and young people should be involved at all stages of the commissioning process.

For example, they can get involved in:

  • Assessing needs – this can be done through a number of ways such as sharing life stories/experiences, workshops, conferences, voting, using photos/pictures, surveys and video making.
  • Identifying resources and setting priorities – using workshops, ranking/voting sessions, debates and focus groups. Children and young people may have a good knowledge of resources within their communities.
  • Planning – looking at designs of buildings (inside and out), locations and opening hours.
  • Procuring – presentations, children and young people’s panels and ranking/voting exercises.
  • Monitoring – mystery shopping, project advisory groups, surveys and blogs.
  • Evaluation and learning – for monitoring as well as case studies, life stories, photos, and video.

It is recognised that this will not always be possible but is recommended as good practice.

It is also important to identify and use existing work. For example, children and young people are involved in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for Buckinghamshire so this could be used to address the ‘Assessing needs’ stage.

There are many more ‘methods’ of involving children and young people – see Appendix 3 for web links to some of these.

However you involve children and young people try and remember to make it fun!

Model of involving children and young people

Source: Connexions:involve, Framework for involving children and young people in procurement and commissioning.

Stage 2 of this cycle is very important. It is essential to focus on the quality of children and young people’s involvement not the quantity.

6.Training and preparation for children and young people.

It is essential that children and young people are supported throughout the process.

Training for children and young people could include:

  • What commissioning is?
  • Interviewing skills.
  • Presentation skills.
  • Critical appraisal skills.
  • Collaborative working.
  • Assertiveness skills.
  • Equality awareness.
  • Data protection and freedom of information awareness.

7.Training for staff.

Commissioning Training is available for staff – details of how to access this will be added when available.

Involving young people in Commissioning is based on the principles of Participation and provides good evidence for Hear by Right. A course on Participation and Hear by Right is available and strongly recommended. For further details of this please contact:

It is also strongly recommended that staff undertake Equalities Training as this is relevant as staff will need to be inclusive in the way they involve children and young people. For further details of this please contact the below.

For Buckinghamshire County Council employees:

- Cohesion & Equalities Induction Training: Corporate Training Team, 01296 382091.

- Equality Impact Assessment Training: Corporate Cohesion and Equalities Team, 01296 382756.

- Cohesion & Equalities Training, Children and Young People’s Services, 01296 382461.

Please note that Cohesion and Equalities Training delivered by the County Council’s Children and Young People’s Services can be accessed by other organisations on request.

  1. Rewarding children and young people.

It is very important that the valuable contribution children and young people make is recognised. This Guidance recommends that children and young people are given the choice of one of the following rewards:

  • Using the time they have volunteered to contribute towards a voluntary award.
  • A reward of £25 for a half day and £50 for a full days involvement. This includes any preparation time required in advance.
  • If young people are on benefits then a voucher to the equivalent value should be offered. Young people should be given a choice of vouchers.

This amount does not cover children and young people’s travel expenses which will need to be paid. Expenses should cover the cost of getting to and from the interview using public transport or fuel costs (using the Buckinghamshire County Council rates).

Thought should be given to the appropriateness of the reward when working with particular client groups.

The use of taxis should be considered if a child/young person is unable to access public transport or get a lift.

9.Feedback and Monitoring

It is essential that children and young people are given feedback as to how their views have made a difference i.e. what action has or has not been taken and why. If they are taking a formal part of the process such as interviewing potential providers at tender it should be made clear how their element of the process will be weighted. This avoids problems if panels disagree.

Feedback should be given in a way that is accessible to children and young people, using a method of their choice. Ideally this should take place on the day but if this is not possible by asking them how they would like to be informed i.e. via email, telephone, face to face.

It is also essential for service providers to ensure that they involve children and young people in monitoring the delivery of the work. This could be built into the commissioning contract so that the organisation responsible for delivery undertakes this.

An evaluation template is available if required. Please contact for a copy of this.

10.Representation and specific needs

Children and young people will have different experiences of services based upon a number of issues including their gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or ability, beliefs/non beliefs and living circumstances. These differences will need to be addressed with sensitivity. For example, consideration needs to be given to access issues and specific needs of any of the children and young people taking part.

It is vital that a wide range of children and young people are enabled to participate and steps are taken to actively include those children and young people who are often overlooked, such as looked after children, those from black minority ethnic groups and disabled children and young people.

Ensuring that all children and young people have the opportunity to participate regardless of their circumstances is a principle of equality upon which effective participation is based.

It is recommended that where applicable the children and young people involved should have experience of using the services the position will be delivering. For example, commissioning for a mental health provider should involve some children or young people that have used these services.

11.Accessibility

In order to ensure that the information provided for children and young people is clear and accessible it is necessary to:

  • Provide explanations of specialist or technical language that might be used e.g. a glossary of terms and acronyms.
  • Check with the child/young person whether they need the information in a special format in order that they can participate e.g. a hearing loop system, sign language or a translator.
  • Consider the accessibility of any venues used e.g. whether there is external and internal access for disabled children and young people, whether there is a car park and whether it is on a public transport route.
  • Ensure that all communication is in plain English, uses appropriate language and is jargon-free.
  • Avoid children and young people missing school, training and other activities.

12.Other information

This Guidance has been approved by the Buckinghamshire Children and Young People’s Trust Board and commended for use by all partners delivering services to children and young people in Buckinghamshire.

Consultation on the Guidance has also taken place with members of the County Council’s Children and Young People’s Services Joint Commissioning Team and the multi agency Children and Young People’s Trust Participation Group.

Young people’s views have had a significant impact on the development of this Guidance, as have the views of staff that have supported young people during interviews.

Practical Steps to involving children and young people in Commissioning Processes

Preparation

  • For requests to have children/young people involved in the procurement stage (i.e. interviews) of the commissioning process, 8 weeks advance notice should be given using the Commissioning Request Form – see page 14. However as it takes time to recruit and train a group of appropriate children/young people it is good to have an informal chat as soon as you know what is being commissioned. By giving advance notice your request is more likely to be possible to support as planning and preparation can be scheduled around other work. Please contact to arrange this.
  • If you are commissioning services on a regular basis please submit an annual schedule so your requirements can be considered. Please submit your schedule by the start of the financial year (1st April) to
  • Date/time identified – needs to be child/young person friendly. Requests that disrupt young people’s attendance at school/college/training will not be considered.
  • An adult is identified to organise and support children’s/young people’s involvement. The adult who supports the children/young people during the process must be CRB checked. Ideally this adult should be from the organisation leading the process. If this is not possible a Youth Worker can be requested to support the process. This person should be independent to the commissioning process.
  • An appropriate venue should be booked.
  • Brief agreed for children’s/young people’s involvement i.e. own panel, part of a panel, focus group – it must be made clear how children’s/young people’s views will affect the outcome.
  • Choice of reward for children/young people established.
  • A comprehensive preparation session, led by adults/young people who have previous commissioning experience.
  • Children/young people receive supporting information. This should be sent two weeks in advance so they have time to read. It is important to emphasise if any of this information is confidential and if so why this is.
  • Children/young people’s contribution to the commissioning process is given an agreed weighting.
  • Programme of the day produced and sent to children/young people. This should include enough time for children/young people to participate e.g. ask questions, score responses, have refreshments and adequate breaks.
  • Parental/Carer Consent needs to be obtained (this can take some time). Please contact to request a template of this form.

At the Tender Panel

  • It is emphasised again how children’s/young people’s views will influence the outcome.
  • Children’s/young people’s contribution should have equal weighting to the other parts of the process (e.g. adult panel 40%, young people’s panel 40%, presentation 20%). This weighting should be made clear to all involved at the beginning of the process, including candidates
  • Children/young people meet with the adults involved to share views and make a decision (important this joint process happens, we have had very negative feedback from children and young people when they are not involved in this stage).
  • Need to provide refreshments – children/young people could be coming straight out of school, college etc.
  • If support staff are needed to drive children or young people to the venue appropriate safeguarding procedures must be in place for this such as CRB checks and business insurance on the vehicle used.
  • Children/young people have time to arrange the layout of the room as they wish.
  • Copies of the Parental/Carer Consent Forms are available at the interviews – these should be held by the staff member supporting the children/young people.

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