This week is Co-production Week: 30 June – 4 July 2025
Co-production Week is a celebration of the power of co-production to design and develop better ways of doing things in social care.
This year’s theme is ‘Innovation through co-production’.
What is Co-production?
Co-production is an approach where an organisation such as Grace Eyre, the people it supports, their families and professionals work together to plan, develop, deliver and evaluate services and products. Using co-production and striving to become a user-led organisation is very important to Grace Eyre.
How we do co-production at Grace Eyre
Co-production is everywhere at Grace Eyre.
There is also a specific team in our charity called Our Voices. Our Voices supports autistic people and people with a learning disability to have their voices heard and to be involved in Grace Eyre and the wider community.
Emma Willocks, Our Voices 
Head of Service, said:
“Our Voices is a co-produced department at Grace Eyre. 86% of our staff and volunteers have a learning disability or are autistic people. We help support the rest of the organisation to know why sharing power and responsibility when making decisions about our lives and services is so important. Our main goal is for people to be in charge of their own lives and be part of decision-making in all areas of the organisation.”
Fran Reynolds, Grace Eyre Ambassador and Our Voices Co-production Trainer, said:
“We have been delivering co-production training to our staff teams. Co-production is an important part of valuing everyone. For instance, I have choice and control in my life as I work with my staff team so I can have the support I need. I teach this to others in the training.”
Training
Corporate Training
Our Voices offers corporate training in governance, co-production, autism and easy read to external organisations.
Our Voices provides training and consultancy services for charities and businesses, focusing on the inclusion of people with a learning disability and autistic people within organisations.
Find out more about corporate training
Trustee Training
The team also offers trustee training for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Grace Eyre recognises that boards in the charity sector are trying to be more inclusive. Whilst there is training aimed at how boards can be more accessible, there is no accessible training for people with a learning disability and autistic people who are – or want to become – trustees. This is exactly what our Trustee Training programme offers.
Find out more about trustee training
Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism
David and Robert are our Oliver McGowan Expert with Lived Experience Co Facilitators.
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism is the Government’s preferred and recommended training for health and social care staff to undertake. The training aims to provide the social care and health workforce with the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate, and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning disability.
David and Robert work alongside Alastair, our Learning & Development Coordinator, to deliver the training to all Grace Eyre staff. We also hope to deliver externally in the future.
Co-production in the community
Purple Productions is Grace Eyre’s Events Team. They produce events for and by people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Purple Productions is putting on events our community wants.
These include running their own events in new venues, having autonomy over their own roles, becoming part of Brighton Fringe, expanding events into West Sussex and organising their own summer festival, Big Purple Funfest.
Learning Disability Pride Party
The team co-produce this event which included dancing, campaigning, performance, art and film from the Oska Bright Film Festival.
With support, each team member takes responsibility for their own area. The outcome has been something to celebrate, enjoy and feel proud of. The added value of being involved in the co-production of these events is engaging the participation of our community.
Find out more about Purple Productions
Get Involved
We are looking for volunteers to join our Grace Eyre Ambassadors Team in Brighton & Hove.
The main focus of the Ambassadors’ work is increasing self-advocacy, which means people with learning disabilities and autistic people speaking out about what is important to them. Ambassadors receive training to help them carry out their role.
This is a voluntary role for people with a learning disability and/or autistic people and individuals who receive support from Adult social care services.
You must be able to commit to attending at least 2 meetings per month.
Find out more about becoming a Grace Eyre Ambassador
Questions?
If you have any queries about co-production at Grace Eyre or you’d like to enquire about training, please contact Emma Willcocks, Our Voices Head of Service, at ewillcocks@grace-eyre.org.