Published date:
PBNI’s first Service User Involvement Strategy was introduced in 2017. There have now been two iterations of the strategy, the most recent of which, approved by the Board in May 2021, ran from 2021 to 2025 and set out the importance of service user involvement in PBNI’s delivery of services. The first-hand experience of service users, both those who have offended and those who are registered with the Victim Information Scheme provides new, and differing perspectives for organisations which can help tailor delivery of services, and it is important that PBNI’s Service User Involvement Strategy recognises the valuable contribution that people with lived experience can make in shaping services. In addition, involvement of service users benefits the individuals themselves, promoting desistence, improving self-confidence and promoting self-esteem. The involvement of service users, particularly those who have offended also carries inherent risks which this strategy seeks to mitigate but can never eliminate.
Since 2017 PBNI has developed and facilitated a number of Service User Involvement Groups across different locations with the aim of enabling current and previous service user contribution in areas such as consultations, staff induction, staff training, participation in staff events/media, and contributing their views on service delivery and estates.
We are on a journey in relation to meaningfully involving service users and this is an area of work that PBNI continues to value and remain committed to. This revised strategy builds on the work that has been achieved to date and sets out our ambition for the expansion of Service User Involvement over the next five years.