Public and community partnership principles

Local authorities use different names to describe public and community involvement. In collaboration with our public contributors we agreed to use the term public and community partnerships (PCP) to describe all activities local authorities use to involve and engage the public and communities in public health research. 

In April and May 2025, we brought together a diverse group of 29 people from across England who worked together as PCP co-creation group. The group was made up of different people: some work for local authorities, some in community groups, and others were members of the public, and from national and regional NIHR groups. Everyone shared their thoughts and experiences, and the different ways people and communities can be involved in public research in local authorities. 

The group explored a range of existing involvement frameworks and models, they felt that none of them truly reflected how involvement happens in local authority settings. 

The group talked about what they thought was important and they came up with 7 principles to ensure PCP is meaningful and impactful in local authority research. 

The 7 PCP principles are:

1. Trusted partnerships 

2. Share power, learning and resources  

3. Set clear expectations 

4. Varied and meaningful involvement  

5. Test and learn 

6. Identify impact 

7. Be inclusive

Testing the PCP principles

In early 2026 we announced a funding call for PCP projects across England. Led by local authorities, in partnership with their local communities, the 31 PCP projects we have funded (including 2 pilots) will explore new or improved ways that local authorities can involve people and communities in public health research delivered outside the NHS. 

Over the next 2 years, we will be working with PCP funding call awardees and the PCP co-creation group to learn how best to use the PCP principles, and learn from them.  

All 31 PCP projects have committed to delivering 1 or more of the PCP principles in their project and the graph below illustrates the spread of PCP principles being tested by the local partnerships. 

What do we hope to achieve?

We want to find the best ways to make public and community involvement work well in local authority research. We hope that the learning from the PCP principles and PCP projects will allow us to share emerging practice in public and community involvement. 

We would love to hear from you if you have any experience or learning to share on how you have achieved good public and community involvement in public health research in your local authority or community organisation, drop us an email: nihr.rss.publichealth@newcastle.ac.uk