Who's involved?
John Evans OBE
John Evans was a disabled person who, since the 1970s, campaigned tirelessly for better social care to support disabled people’s independent living in the community. He was internationally recognised for his pioneering work and received multiple awards for his contributions. A passionate advocate for co-production, John served as a Board Trustee of SCIE and chaired the SCIE Co-production Steering Group. Following the introduction of the Care Act 2014, he played a key role in SCIE’s annual Co-production Festivals from 2016 onwards. His work had a significant impact on Hampshire County Council, particularly in advancing co-production practices.
John was also a long-standing member of the Hampshire Personalisation Expert Panel (PEP). Hampshire has a strong tradition of co-producing adult health and social care services with Experts by Experience, including people who use services and their carers.
In recognition of his extraordinary contribution, a new award—the John Evans Award for Co-production—has been established for 2025 to honour his legacy and lasting influence on co-production across Hampshire. You can explore John’s story in the 25-minute film: John Evans – My Fight for Freedom.
Rachel
"Working together helps us understand from different perspectives and uses limited resources to provide the best outcomes possible"
Philippa
"Working in co-production is, yes, difficult – dare I say even uncomfortable at times – but done well, I believe it is the most fulfilling and rewarding endeavour. This resource is a call to persist in co-production as it is only by involving people in the services they use, that we can together deliver the best possible outcomes"
Sumaiya
"I would like to see us commit to building relationships and working alongside our service users and residents from conception to reach better collective outcomes and services that deliver."
Margaret
"My hope for the future of co-production is the continued recognition of the benefit of working together to improve the quality of lives. Co-production with autistic people and their families has successfully trained over 1,000 “Autism Ambassadors” in Hampshire, who have progressed to improving autistic people’s life experience"
Iain
"Personally, I think having co-produced services benefits everybody. It benefits local authorities as the services are co-designed with those that use services making them more person centred, more effective and there is a cost efficiency because service users have helped iron out kinks in the design stage. The toolkit will hopefully offer people the confidence to implement co-production projects and co-designing new services going forward"
Emily
"Let’s keep going with co-production! I hope that, over time, including people with personal experience as equal players in projects will become established as the norm in Hampshire"
Michael
"Coproduction is essential for creating the right support for the people of Hampshire. By working together and sharing responsibility for the planning, design, and delivery of something with the people who are going to use it, professionals and the public will create better, more effective, and more inclusive outcomes"
Ian
"The co-production process of developing the toolkit worked well because there was equality amongst HCC staff and service users"
Anne
"I do hope the toolkit will encourage more co-production working on the lines of the Hampshire Carers Partnership, which is led by carers and works in equal partnership with health, social care and the voluntary sector. "
If you would like to comment on Let’s Go With Co-Pro, or would like to get in touch, please email
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