Members of the National Involvement Network (NIN) have been working with ARC Scotland and Evaluation Support Scotland to evaluate what difference the Charter for Involvement has made to peoples lives. Here is their final report.

1. “ The Charter is
a brilliant template
for organisations
“
on the inclusion
journey
Charter for Involvement
Evaluation Report
June 2012
“ I would like to
sit at the top table
and speak about “
how my life is
changing
Supported by
The National
Involvement Network
Charter for Involvement

2. National Involvement Network
About the Charter for
Involvement
The Charter for Involvement was written by a group
of people who use services in Scotland called the
National Involvement Network. There are 13
statements in the Charter that say how we want to
be involved in how the organisations that support us
are planned and run. It was published in 2009.
People who are in charge of 22 support organisations
have since committed their organisation to putting
the Charter statements and principles into action.
For more information about the Charter for Involvement and the
National Involvement Network please visit the ARC Scotland website
www.arcuk.org.uk/scotland or phone us on 0131 663 4444
Talking about this Evaluation Report:
National Involvement Network Meeting
June 2012
2 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

3. National Involvement Network
About the Evaluation
4 members of the National Involvement Network carried out this evaluation.
We wanted to find out what difference the Charter for Involvement has made to
people’s lives. It has taken us over a year to do this evaluation. Here are some
of our comments:
“I used to panic in a room with lots of people. Now I
can sit in a room and listen to what people say”
“Things don’t need to be difficult to get your point
across. It will let folk see that people with learning
disabilities are not stupid and can say what they
want very clearly”
“I feel more confident, being able to sit and talk to
people without having help. I would never have
been able to do that before”
The main differences we hope that the Charter is making to
peoples lives are (these are called ‘outcomes’):
3 We are more active in making the organisations that support us better
3 We are more able to make decisions about our lives
3 We are more skilled and confident in speaking up for ourselves and others
Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012
3

4. National Involvement Network
We sent questionnaires to the chief executives of the organisations that have
‘signed up’ to the Charter to find out if these things are happening. Chief
executives are the people who run organisations. We got 14 responses to this
and wrote an ‘interim report’.
We then met 46 people who get support from 7 different voluntary
organisations to find out what they think. All of the organisations supported
people with learning disabilities.
We made it clear to everyone that we were evaluating the Charter not the
organisation.
The Charter Evaluation group are:
Heather Davidson Magnus McIvor Lynnette Linton Caroline Gray
We would like to thank the following for their help, advice and support in the
writing of this report. Geeta Patel (Garvald Edinburgh), Gillian Barclay (Hansel
Alliance), James Fletcher (ARC Scotland). Thanks also to Graeme Reekie from
Evaluation Support Scotland who advised us as to how the report should look,
Lindsay Graham who attended the interviews with us and FAIR for the pictures.
All of your support was very much appreciated.
4 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

5. National Involvement Network
What we learned
(our conclusions)
The Charter has helped people who get support to be more involved.
The differences we hoped for have happened for at least 1,750
people.
People who get support and chief executives are positive about the difference
that the Charter has made. People who get support are usually more positive
than the chief executives. They give similar examples about how the Charter
has helped. But there are differences too. People who get support are less
sure about how much the Charter has helped them to be involved in choosing
their staff than chief executives. People who get support often spoke about
feeling more listened to and respected because of the Charter.
We learned which statements in the Charter are helping to make a big
difference (for example We want to be at the HEART of any plans about
OUR lives). We also learned there are statements we need to be clearer about
(for example We want to be involved with our Boards and Management
Committees).
We got lots of good comments about the Charter, and ideas for how we can
improve it. These are at the end of this report.
Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012
5

6. National Involvement Network
What people told us
All of the Charter statements shown in this report are marked with a...
Charter
Statement
We have written two separate reports that give more detail about what
chief executives and people who get support told us. You can see these at
www.arcuk.org.uk/scotland or call 0131 663 4444 and we will send you a
copy.
6 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

7. National Involvement Network
Outcome: We are more active in making
the organisations that support us better
Q1.
How much difference
has the Charter
made to how your
organisation is run?
Chief executives People who use services
15 35
14
13 30
12
11
25
10
9
20
Number of people
Number of people
8
7
15
6
5
4 10
3
2 5
1
A lot Some A little None / A lot Some A little None /
Not sure Not sure
Answers given Answers given
Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012
7

8. National Involvement Network
“We already had a level of involvement and aspiration to
improve this. The Charter has acted as a catalyst for this”
“The Charter has helped because our involvement is in
writing and to see it on paper makes us proud”
Chief executives and people who get support agree the Charter has made
a difference. Most people who get support think that the Charter has made
more difference than chief executives do. Some people in charge told us that:
• They are only just starting to improve involvement (3 organisations)
• They already had good levels of involvement (4 organisations).
Even so, both groups used the same examples of what differences have
happened:
We want to be involved with our Boards and
Management Committees:
People who use services and chief executives agree that there
Charter
Statement are better links between people who use services and Management
Boards. More people who get support are taking part in Board
meetings, but not many organisations are doing this.
We want to be involved in writing policies that affect us:
People who use services and chief executives agree that there
Charter is improved involvement of people in writing policies. These
Statement include; Safeguarding, Involvement, Volunteers, Holidays,
Recruitment, Support Plans and Complaints Procedures.
8 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

9. National Involvement Network
We want to be involved in making policies that affect
us easier to understand:
Charter
Statement More policies are written using easy read or put on a DVD.
We want to be involved in choosing our support
workers and other staff:
Charter
Statement People who use services and chief executives agree that
people are more involved in choosing staff. There is more
information about this later in this report (see question 4).
We want to be involved in evaluating the service we
use:
Charter
Statement More organisations are involving the people that they support in
evaluating what they do, such as setting up evaluation groups,
supporting people to use the Charter and getting involved with
staff appraisals.
We want to give information and training to staff at
all levels:
Charter
Statement People who use services and chief executives agree that more
people have been supported to get skills to train staff. More
people are involved in training staff, but not everyone who gets
support wants to do this.
Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012
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10. National Involvement Network
Q2.
How much do you
think the people that
get support should be
involved in how the
organisation is planned
and run?
Chief executives People who use services
15 35
14
13 30
12
11
25
10
9
20
Number of people
Number of people
8
7
15
6
5
4 10
3
2 5
1
A lot Some A little None / A lot Some A little None /
Not sure Not sure
Answers given Answers given
10 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

11. National Involvement Network
“I want to be right in the middle of making decisions”
Nearly all chief executives and people who use services agree
that people should be involved a lot in how organisations are
planned and run.
We can’t be sure that people think this way because of the
Charter. But a big part of the Charter is that organisations
should work with the people they support to produce an action
plan for involvement, and 10 of the 14 organisations had done
this.
People in four of the groups that we met with want to be
more involved. Others were unsure about how much more
involvement they wanted.
Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012
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12. National Involvement Network
Outcome: We are more able to make
decisions about our lives
Q3.
How much do you think the
Charter has helped you to
be at the HEART of any plans
about your life?
Chief executives People who use services
15 35
14
13 30
12
11
25
10
9
20
Number of people
Number of people
8
7
15
6
5
4 10
3
2 5
1
A lot Some A little None / A lot Some A little None /
Not sure Not sure
Answers given Answers given
12 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

13. National Involvement Network
“The Charter has helped me do more on my own”
“We are rolling out person centred plans for everyone
in the organisation who wants one”
We want to be at the HEART of any plans about OUR
lives:
Charter
Statement Chief executives seem less sure than people who use services
that the Charter has made a lot of difference, but most agree
that some difference has been made. Again, 3 organisations
said they were already doing this.
People who get support and chief executives agree that people
are more involved in their plans and more plans are made in
an accessible way, for example using DVDs and pictures. There
are also better easier to understand support plan policies.
We think it is interesting that lots of people who get support said
that they felt more listened to and respected because of the
Charter.
Some people gave examples of having more choice in
their lives. In some cases this has led to them having more
independence, for example moving home, getting support to
find work and being more involved in their local community.
Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012
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14. National Involvement Network
Q4.
(How much) do you
think the Charter has
helped you to be more
involved in choosing
your support worker
and other staff?
Chief executives People who use services
15 35
14
13
30
12
11
25
10
9
20
Number of people
Number of people
8
7
6 15
5
4 10
3
2 5
1
Yes No A lot Some A little None /
Not sure
Answers given Answers given
14 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

15. National Involvement Network
“It’s better since using the Charter, you can choose
your own staff”
“It hasn’t changed very much – I don’t get to give input”
“We did this before the Charter so it has not helped a
lot”
“The Charter has brought this to the fore and it has
been prioritised”
We want to be involved in choosing our support
workers and other staff:
Charter
Statement
People who use services and chief executives agree that more
people are involved in choosing staff.
But this time it is people who get support that are less sure about
the difference that the Charter has made.
We learned that most organisations only have a small number
of people who are involved in choosing staff, and they are not
always choosing their own staff. Lots of people told us that they
want to be involved in choosing staff but don’t get the chance.
Also, only two of the groups said that they had a say in who gets
the job, most people said that it was up to managers to decide.
Only one group said they were involved in writing job
descriptions.
Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012
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16. National Involvement Network
Outcome: We are more skilled and
confident in speaking up for ourselves
and others
Q5.
How much do you think the
Charter has helped you
to get more involved in
campaigning and speaking
up groups?
Chief executives People who use services
15 35
14
13 30
12
11 25
10
9
20
Number of people
Number of people
8
7
15
6
5
10
4
3
2 5
1
A lot Some A little None / A lot Some A little None /
Not sure Not sure
Answers given Answers given
16 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

17. National Involvement Network
We want the chance and the choice to get involved
in local and national campaigns:
Charter
Statement
This is the question with the biggest differences between the
chief executives and people who get support.
We heard lots of examples of people who get support getting
involved in campaigns and speaking up groups. It may be that
the people we spoke to were already the most involved people.
Still, we heard good examples of people campaigning out-with
the organisation they receive support from, like speaking to
councillors and local authorities about things that affect them.
Most people felt that the Charter has made some or a lot of
difference to this.
Most of the people who get support we spoke to knew about
the National Involvement Network (NIN) or went to NIN meetings.
Most chief executives knew about the NIN meetings too. But
they were less sure about what difference the Charter has made
to people getting involved in campaigns and speaking up
groups apart from this.
Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012
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18. National Involvement Network
Q6.
What do you think
about the Charter? Do
you have any ideas to
make it better?
We got lots of good comments about the Charter
from both groups:
“It’s good enough so it’s hard to think of new ideas”
“It’s important to tell others about the Charter”
“It is a good document model for good practice”
“The Charter is a brilliant template for organisations on
the inclusion journey”
18 Charter for Involvement • Evaluation Report: June 2012

19. National Involvement Network
What we will do next
We also got ideas for how we can make the Charter better. They are:
Make the Charter clearer
3 Make the main message in the Charter more clear – that it is about being
listened to and respected
3 Have stories in the charter that show how people have got involved
3 Make it clearer about how people should be involved in choosing their staff
3 Make it clearer about how people should be involved in Management
Boards and Committees
Make the Charter easier to understand
3 Re-publish the Charter book with fewer words and more pictures
3 Make a DVD about the Charter
3 Have posters about the Charter
Get more people involved in the Charter
3 Have more people from rural areas involved in the Charter
3 Have more people with different support needs involved in the Charter
3 Help big national organisations to get the message about the Charter
across to everyone they support and all their staff
The members of the Charter evaluation group have spoken with the other
NIN members about these ideas. NIN members have agreed to work to
make these things happen. Would YOU like to get involved? Please contact
us at arc.scotland@arcuk.org.uk or call 0131 663 444.
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