It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it…

A few years ago, Poverty2Solutions created an A to Z of involving lived experience. Each letter captured a key principle of what meaningful involvement really looks like — not as theory, but as practice. Every word, every illustration, came directly from people with lived experience.

With the socio-economic duty back on the agenda, there is renewed focus on how government, public bodies and regulators engage with people affected by poverty and inequality. The risk, as ever, is that lived experience becomes something that is consulted rather than centred.

This A to Z reminds us that involvement is not about box-ticking or storytelling for impact. It’s about power, respect, trust, time and fairness. It’s about recognising lived experience as a form of expertise — one that strengthens policy when it is taken seriously from the start.

As guidance develops around the socio-economic duty, the voices of people who live with the consequences of policy decisions must be at the heart of it. Not added on at the end. Not filtered. Not tokenised.

Our A-Z offers practical, grounded insights into how to do involvement well — and what happens when it’s done badly.

We’re sharing it again because the lessons still matter.

And because if we’re serious about tackling socio-economic inequality, the way we do things really does matter.