Paul Dee, Team Leader at Alternative Futures Group, explains how the organisation empowered the people they support to vote for the first time.
We know that the best outcomes come when people play an active part in the design and delivery of their own care and are empowered to use their own voice.
A great example of a successful co-production initiative from the last year was encouraging the five residents at our adult care home to participate in the local election in May 2023 – something they had never done before.
First steps
When the local election was announced we immediately wanted to encourage people we support to use their vote, so I explained the importance of the democratic process and citizens having a say.
Initially we were met with objections from all five of the gentlemen we support that there would be no point in voting as it would not result in any change.
I explained that voting is one of their rights and responsibilities, which is something we regularly discuss in our service, and how people have the right to choose their representation.
I compared voting with activities we do in service, like when we ask them to choose representatives to voice their opinions at wider team meetings, which helped with their understanding.
Overcoming hurdles
We quickly realised that none of the people we support were registered to vote, so we needed to register for voter authority certificates first.
This meant organising formal ID for each of the gents and various administrative processes to get them set up to vote.
We were keen to keep motivation levels high throughout this lengthy process and found one of our most impactful conversations was on the candidates and their policies, which sparked a lively discussion about what was important to each of them. They were also very interested to learn about the option of spoiling a ballot and this still counting as having your say.
On the day
When voting day arrived there was a lot of indecisiveness about people not wanting to go out in the cold, but once I had talked through how far we had come to get to this point and reiterated why voting was so important, everyone was on board! I am proud to say we all exercised our right to vote.
A lasting impact
We had great feedback and pride from the gentlemen we support following this experience. One of the gents, Stephen, decided to follow it up by writing to his local MP to request an increase in funding for care homes. We received a standard response, but this really empowered Stephen that his voice matters.
He explained what the experience meant to him: “I’m glad I voted, and I didn’t spoil my ballot. I haven’t done this before. I understand now why everyone votes. I wrote to the politician.”
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