Introduction

From limited beginnings service-user/carer involvement has become central to the accreditation and validation of social work programmes in the UK (Hatton, 2015). The extent and depth of service-user/carer involvement varies widely across the country and in many, but not all, cases focuses on the involvement of service users/carers in the traditional elements of the programme – admissions interviews, guest teaching and as expert speakers. This chapter suggest that if we are to make service-user/carer involvement meaningful, we need to develop a more holistic and complex way of understanding how service users/carers can contribute to social work education. This will involve seeing service users/carers as co-producers and partners in the educational experience rather than seeing their involvement as a way of legitimising our commitment to inclusion. To achieve this, this chapter argues that we need a more developed analysis of power, agency, imagination and creativity. The chapter uses the phrase ‘service users/carers’ for clarity, although it fully recognises that: a) service users/carers are not a homogenous grouping, and b) the very words are themselves contentious (McLaughlin, 2009). In current discourses, service users/carers are more often referred to as experts by experience or people with lived experience (PWLE). The authors also recognises that service users/carers have multiple identities beyond their status as service users/carers, and that many of these roles intersect (Hill Collins and Bilge, 2016) and cause contradictions/conflicts. This is the content of a recently published companion piece (Hatton, 2020).

The development of service-user involvement in the UK

Over the last 20 years, service users/carers have at last been recognised as having a significant role in the delivery, management and development of welfare services. This is reflected in the attention given to service-user involvement in both the legislative and policy contexts. These debates cut across all service boundaries and raise questions about service-user representation (Hatton, 2015), the efficacy of current initiatives and the usefulness of the service-user perspective across a range of service-user areas.

The drivers behind these initiatives have often been service users themselves.