The council worked with Positive Money, a not-for-profit, non-partisan, research and campaigning organisation, to run a People’s Panel exploring the question: 'What can be done to make life more affordable for those most affected by the rising cost of living?'. The People’s Panel was a form of 'citizens' jury', where a representative sample of local residents came together to deliberate over a complex or controversial issue. 22 residents met for 15 hours over two consecutive weekends to increase their understanding of the cost of living crisis, how it affects local people and develop recommendations for what Cheshire East Council, local communities and Government can do to help.
Ahead of assembling the panel, Cheshire East Council and Positive Money ran an extensive promotional campaign, which also allowed the Council to capture views and ideas from other residents. Local third sector organisations, libraries, town and parish councils were used to get the message out to communities. An online survey, hosted by Polis, generated 323 responses and 366 statements of ideas. Over 20,761 online votes were cast in support of ideas. This wider activity helped generate over 100 applications to join the panel, which were received by phone and online.
An algorithm was used to randomly select a representative sample of residents to make up the panel. It took into account various factors, including urban or rural location, gender, age, disability, caring responsibilities, employment status and responses to behavioural insights questions. The project team was proactive in ensuring that, given the overall ethnic diversity (96 per cent white) and affluence of Cheshire East, the panel included non-white members and people with lived experience of financial hardship.
Each panel member received a £150 voucher incentive payment in recognition of their time and was personally phoned before meetings to ensure they were comfortable and ready to participate. The weekend meetings were made up of deliberative workshops led by four independent facilitators. The panel heard from expert speakers from organisations like Cheshire East Council, Citizens Advice, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Trussell Trust and Nantwich Food Bank. After listening and discussion, they developed a series of recommendations and used voting to prioritise them. These have been presented to the council, who have committed to respond in early 2023.
The People’s Panel cost just under £20,000 to run. About £12,000 of this was funded by Positive Money, while Cheshire East Council spent about £8,000 on venues, incentive payments and other costs. This money was secured by repurposing some of an existing budget for a resident survey and public health activities.