York's Model of Joint Partnership working (co-production)

Joint Partnership has been talked about and used in different ways for many years across the spectrum of public services and private enterprise and industry. The initial concept of engaging individual groups in developing services and products, was developed as a way of understanding what is required, how to meet the needs of those who will be using the service or product and as a way to ensure high levels of satisfaction.

Within public services there is now wide recognition that effective joint partnerships can significantly improve the quality of experiences for individuals accessing advice, support and care that will have a positive impact on short, medium and long term outcomes in their lives. The Children and Families Act 2014 also sets out the statutory responsibilities that commissioners and services must enact to improve the lives of with children, young people and families who have special educational needs and disabilities. This must include ensuring the voice of the child or young person is heard and is central in planning all aspects of support that affects them both from an individual perspective and how services are configured, delivered and improved across the system.

To embed and normalise joint partnership and responsibilities as a way of working with children and families, York has come together to develop a strategy and model that is recognisable and consistently used across all services when working with individuals and also in service development. This partnership includes:

• children and young people
• parents and carers
• voluntary sector
• City of York Council - education and social care
• early years settings, schools and academies
• health services (Healthy Child Service, York Teaching Hospital Trust – paediatrics, therapies and nursing, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and Tees, Esk, Wear Valley)
• elected members

Diagram of a joint partnership approach