Are you ready?
/What your group needs to have in place before making a participation request
Most community groups should be able to make a participation request. There are some requirements which your group will have to meet, but this shouldn’t be too difficult. This guide takes you through the criteria for making a participation request and highlights some other things you might want to put in place before making one.
What if I’m not part of a group?
You need to be part of a group to make a participation request. We’ve written a guide to forming a group to help you to join up with others in your community.
Criteria for making a participation request
“Community participation body” is the term given to the group of people who make a participation request. To qualify as a community body, the group must show it meets the following requirements:
The group must state the community which they are from, and this can be a geographic community or people who share the same interest or background.
Most of the group's members must be from that community.
The group needs to be open to other members of their community joining.
Any profits have to be used to benefit the community
A statement of aims and purposes must also be provided.
Do I need a constitution?
Informal groups can make participation requests, so you do not need to be become constituted.
However, the criteria for making a participation request (see above) include the kind of information that would be contained in a constitution.
More informal, unconstituted groups will have to write down how they meet these conditions. Therefore, you may want to go a bit further and start developing a constitution.
Again, there’s more on this in the forming a group resource.
How many people do you need to be a group?
Technically, you only need two or more people to make a participation request. The number of people isn’t as important as being able to show you have the right experience of using the service to enable you to help improve it.
At the same time, having more people in the group will help to show you have a range of relevant experience and reach into your community.
Do I need wider support from my community?
Participation requests are supposed to make it easier for people who use and experience services to help improve services. So long as you can show your group consists of people with this ‘lived experience’ you should be fine.
If you can show you have a good reach into your wider community, and have some evidence that they support what you are trying to do, this can make your participation request even stronger. But it is not a condition of making one.
Links to more information
The Scottish Government’s statutory guidance for participation requests goes into more detail about the criteria for making participation requests. Download the guidance here (opens as pdf).
Once you’re happy you meet the requirements for making a participation request, it will be useful to think about how to approach making one. Read our guide to approaching public bodies.
