Participation and co-production

Buckinghamshire Council: a participation service young people named, branded and shaped

Buckinghamshire had two teams working on youth voice and no single way for young people to be heard. Eighteen months later it had one service, Youth Voice Bucks, designed with the young people it serves.

Client: Buckinghamshire Council
When: December 2020 to 2022
Who took part: Young people, participation staff, staff across the council
Our role: Strategy, restructure, brand, training, launch

Buckinghamshire Council: a participation service young people named, branded and shaped

1participation service, merged from two teams

19participation champions from 11 service areas

6all-staff training sessions, with 50 to 121 people at each

3brands co-designed with young people

The starting point

Youth voice in Buckinghamshire was spread across two teams, with no shared strategy and no single place for young people to go. The council wanted participation that reached every service, not just the ones that already listened.

What we did

StrategyListen, Act, Respond and RepeatThe 2021 to 2024 Participation Strategy
StructureOne serviceTwo teams merged into Youth Voice Bucks, with a business case for a new coordinator post
BrandThree brands, designed by young peopleYouth Voice Bucks, We Do Care and Shout Out For SEND, plus the youthvoicebucks.co.uk website
PeopleA Champions Programme19 champions from 11 service areas
TrainingSix all-staff sessionsThen monthly training after launch
LaunchA launch conference6 September 2021

How we worked

Training and workshops were led by people with lived and professional experience of care. Young people didn’t just advise on the brand; they designed it.

What changed

One service, named and shaped by young people.

Two teams became Youth Voice Bucks, with its own strategy, brand and website.

All-staff training drew between 50 and 121 people a session, and eight monthly sessions after launch reached over 100 different professionals. The council agreed the business case for a new coordinator post.

What Buckinghamshire runs now

Youth Voice Bucks is still the council’s participation service, with its Youth Voice Executive Committee, We Do Care and Shout Out For SEND. In March 2026 the fourth annual Bucks Youth Summit brought around 160 young people and more than 100 professionals together to shape services.