National Expert Citizens Group
The National Expert Citizens Group harnesses the power of lived experience to tackle multiple disadvantage.
What is the National Expert Citizens Group?
The National Expert Citizens Group (NECG) is a group made up of people from across England with lived experience of multiple disadvantage.
The NECG is run by Revolving Doors and it ensures that those who have lived with multiple disadvantage can shape the services and policies that impact them, ultimately making them more accessible and effective.
What is multiple disadvantage, and why does it matter?
Multiple disadvantage is when someone experiences a combination of health and social needs such as poverty, homelessness, involvement with the criminal justice system, mental-ill health, neurodiversity, discrimination or problems with drugs and alcohol. It affects an estimated 222,000 people per year[1]. Fragmented services often result in inadequate or absent support for individuals experiencing multiple disadvantage, causing many to fall between the cracks.
What the NECG does: coproducing change
Involving people with lived experience in policy and service design offers significant potential for more effective solutions, supporting people to lead fulfilling lives which ultimately represents better value for money.
The NECG works with central and local government, statutory bodies and frontline services. It works to feed lived experience insights into programmes and policies that directly affect people experiencing multiple disadvantage. Revolving Doors, who runs the NECG, does this by providing equal, trauma-informedspaces, bringing together key decision-makers and those with first-hand experience of multiple disadvantage to co-produce innovative solutions for systems change.
Lived experience consultancy
Whether you are developing a policy or strategy, or designing service that would benefit from lived experience insight, we can:
- Facilitate regional and national focus groups to evaluate its potential impact and identify areas for further development;
- Support in the co-designing of key features or recommendations with those who have lived experience;
- Develop a bespoke offer to support research, policy and other projects;
- Offer advice and guidance to embed lived experience at all levels.
Contact us to explore how we can support you through lived experience consultancy.
“Being a member of the NECG gives me a chance to put my opinion across to improve services nationally and locally. It also gives me a voice [and] a feeling of being heard, as well as the opportunity to make services better for those who will need them in the future.”
NECG member
Do you work with people with lived experience?
We encourage referrals from organisations supporting people with multiple disadvantage. Becoming an NECG member is an exciting opportunity for those with lived experience to advocate for a better system, while being paid for their time, gaining new skills and building confidence.
Get in touch to learn more about lived experience opportunities.
Latest NECG updates
Featured
National Expert Citizens Group: 2023-2025 strategic priorities
The NECG acts as a representative group for people facing multiple disadvantage, to make sure those with lived…
Read moreLet’s work together
[1] The ‘Hard Edges’ report by Lankelly Chase Foundation estimates the annual scope of multiple disadvantage to be 164,000 people experiencing a combination of either problems with drugs/alcohol and criminal justice involvement, homelessness and criminal justice involvement or homelessness and problems with drugs/alcohol and 58,000 people experienced all three issues.
