Why the England penalties were all about co-production

By Steve Palmer, SCIE communications manager 

I’m not sure if Gareth Southgate’s ever heard of co-production but I’d like to suggest that what he did last night was immersed in co-production. In 1996 Southgate missed a penalty in the semi-final of the Euros and we went out against Germany. This man has lived experience. When he became England manager, one of the things he did was to start talking about penalties and what happens when we take them. And he got the team to practice penalties at the end of training, when they were tired. In other words, he replicated some of the conditions that exist when you’ve played 120 minutes of football and as the nation holds its breath. Last night wasn’t a fluke. It was the result of a strategy. But, essentially, Gareth worked with his players so that they took control. He led them but they were centrally involved in the design of the strategy, drawn from Gareth’s lived experience. 

That sounds like co-production to me. And no doubt there was some luck and we might lose the next shoot-out, despite that strategy. But the point is that Gareth Southgate has drawn on lived experience and co-produced a stunning England victory. Something that no ‘traditional’ England manager has done. Every day in every way, people who have care and support needs are available to shape services so that everyone is in a better position: the people themselves and their carers, but also commissioners and service providers. People with lived experience have stood on the penalty spot and missed but they’ve learnt from it and they’re helping the shape the way that care and support is designed. Perhaps we should tell Gareth Southgate about co-production. I think he’d like it.