Public trust in government is collapsing. Around the world, seven in ten people believe elected officials don’t care what they think. In the UK, public trust in government is at a record low. This is not just a communications challenge, it is a democratic failure.
At the same time, there is growing openness and increased appetite to engaging different stakeholder group in evidence-informed policymaking, which has brought academics and policymakers closer together. On paper, this looks like progress.
But something is missing. Communities remain in the margins, asked what they think through consultations and light-touch engagement, only for processes (more often than not) to then carry on exactly as before. If we are serious about deepening trust in politics, and creating lasting policies, community participation must move from tokenism to real influence.
Why community participation in policymaking is important
The concept of community participation in policymaking is not new. Citizens’ assemblies, juries, and consultations are now quite common, particularly at local and regional levels. These approaches promise better decisions, rooted in lived experience. They promise legitimacy, trust, and innovation – and sometimes, they deliver.
But too often, community engagement in policymaking is shallow, short-term, and shaped by institutional priorities rather than people’s realities. That means it rarely shifts power.
The uncomfortable truth is we still don’t know what meaningful community participation in evidence-informed policymaking looks like, in practice, because the evidence base is fragmented. We have principles, but not clear methods. We have examples, but not systems. We talk about impact, but rarely measure it. And without clear models, participation feels risky; something to manage or ‘try out’, rather than embed.
For better policymaking, we need to rethink what counts as evidence. Right now, community knowledge is often dismissed as anecdotal or less credible than academic research. This reflects existing power imbalances in policymaking systems. But communities hold vital expertise, grounded in lived experience, which can drive and sustain change. They understand how policies work in real life. Ignoring this leads to weaker, less effective decisions. To change this, we must widen the definition of ‘evidence’, valuing lived experience, and investing in ways to translate it into policy.
Building skills for participatory policymaking
Effective community participation requires opportunities for everyone to be involved, which means providing practical support in places across the UK. Unless people have the resources and advice they need – unless they are welcomed into policymaking spaces, see the relevance of participating, and are given practical support to have time to do so – we risk excluding those that are already marginalised, and continuing to miss the point.
Policymakers need support too, which includes building new capabilities and securing investment for designing participatory processes, building relationships, and translating insights into policy. It takes time and commitment to ensure that community participation is not a bolt-on, but is embedded within policymaking processes.
But one of the biggest challenges is sustainability. If community engagement is short-term, tied to projects, funding cycles, or political timelines, it can only have limited impact. Meaningful participation requires strong, lasting relationships, and trust that engagement will lead to action. Without ongoing collaboration between policymakers, researchers, and communities, participation risks being (or being perceived as) performative.
Institutional infrastructure is another vital component. It is often the case that participatory work depends on a single champion inside an organisation, and while a leader can be helpful, we need systems, not just individuals, that facilitate community participation at scale. That means adapting funding and accountability structures, and creating flexible approaches that support experimentation.
The future of evidence-informed policymaking
There are reasons to be optimistic. Policymakers are showing greater openness to participatory approaches, and there is growing recognition that those closest to a problem are often closest to the solution. New partnerships between universities, communities and government are emerging, creating opportunities to rethink how evidence is produced, how decisions are made, and who gets to shape them.
Moving from participation as performance will require experimentation, investment, and institutional change. If we are to tackle declining trust, widening divides, and policies that fail the people they are meant to serve, we must go beyond asking communities what they think, and start genuinely sharing power.
For more on this subject, read Community participation in evidence-informed policymaking, a new report by Samanthi Theminimulle and Tania Carregha, which shares The Young Foundation’s learnings with Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN). The report aims to support policymakers interested in community engagement, and academics interested in evidence co-production.
Civil society Community leadership Local government and public services Systems change Posted on: 27 April 2026 Authors: Tania Carregha,