Widespread participation that informed budget decisions
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The challenge
Powys County Council was facing severe cuts, needing to find savings of a huge £27m over three years. The Council's budget operates on a rolling three year cycle so they were no strangers to budget consultation.
In previous years, Powys had primarily used face-to-face workshops and paper surveys. They wanted to bring in a new approach to reach those who might have internet access through their smartphone rather than broadband (a particular problem in parts of Wales), to increase access for different demographics – particularly amongst younger audiences, and to create greater cost-effectiveness.
The approach
Powys County Council chose to use Simulator to provide an engaging digital response mechanism for their 2016/17 budget consultation. To facilitate the widest possible participation, Powys made their Budget Simulator available in both English and Welsh, and supported it with a broad range of promotional activity.
This included prominent links and helpful FAQs on the Council website, use of social media channels including a walkthrough video shared on Instagram, posters in public spaces and emails to schools, press releases, and the Council CEO personally encouraging the audience at a leadership conference to complete the Simulator.
The results
It was important to Powys that they garnered, as far as possible, robust and representative results. They were happy that Budget Simulator reached a sufficient quantity and range of people that they could be confident in the data it provided.
The results they collected genuinely informed substantive decisions that the Council made. For example, following the consultation process, they heeded a strong public preference to sustain the budget for short breaks for children with disabilities. The Council provided feedback to citizens thoroughly and accessibly on the results of their budget consultation.
This is a different style exercise for residents to try. The information provided via Budget Simulator will prove valuable for both the cabinet and the council as it will show where residents think the savings should be made in order to achieve the £27m target.
Delib is a govtech leader specialising in consultation and engagement, trusted by over 600 government organisations worldwide, including major planning projects. Since 2004, we've been building secure, accessible digital platforms to make participation simpler, fairer, and more inclusive. Our flagship product, Citizen Space, was built in collaboration with the UK government and has supported more than 11 million responses across over 110,000 democratic activities.