The public consultation toolkit: from planning to reporting

Before embarking on a public consultation, UK government teams should carefully consider the following key questions to ensure an effective, purposeful process.

Do you need to carry out a public consultation?

Check if the information you seek is already available to avoid duplication and consultation fatigue among stakeholders.

Do you understand what a public consultation involves?

It means actively engaging with those affected by your policy or project to gather their views and using this feedback to inform your decisions.

Have you considered the timing of your consultation?

Avoid running consultations during election periods unless the matter is urgent, in which case consult with relevant authorities for guidance.

What are the five main stages of public consultation?

• Stage 1: Decide who to consult with
• Stage 2: Decide what to consult on
• Stage 3: Decide how to consult
• Stage 4: Start the consultation
• Stage 5: Evaluate and use the consultation results

Stage 1: Decide whom to consult with

The first stage of any effective public consultation is deciding who needs to be involved. This foundational step can help ensure meaningful engagement by identifying the diverse perspectives that need to be captured, especially those most affected by the outcomes of the consultation (i.e., the new policy, service changes, or planning decision).

At this stage, the key question is simple but critical: Who might be affected by, interested in, or able to influence the outcome of this consultation?

Identify affected and interested groups

Are you consulting the entire population, residents within a specific geographic area, or communities with a particular interest or lived experience? Different consultations require different audiences; clarity here helps avoid gaps and ensures relevance.

Map your stakeholders

Map potential groups to ensure all key voices are captured. Conducting thorough stakeholder mapping is an essential part of effective public consultation. UK public sector stakeholders generally fall into the following categories:

Partners:

• Community planning partnerships
• Voluntary and community sector organisations
• Public sector bodies
• Local businesses and contractors

Demographic groups:

• Women and men
• Children and young people
• Older people
• Families and carers

Underrepresented groups:

• Minority ethnic communities
• Religious and faith groups
• People facing geographical or digital barriers
• Low-income households
• Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities

Tip: Inclusive consultation goes beyond the "usual voices". Proactively consider how to reach and engage seldom-heard groups to ensure equitable participation among marginalised UK demographics.

Plan for inclusion from the outset

• Who you consult: Prioritise diverse and representative groups
• How you engage them: Tailor methods to suit specific needs and barriers
• The communication channels you use: Use accessible and varied formats to widen reach

For complex or large stakeholder groups, consider creating a stakeholder matrix. This tool helps you assess each group's level of influence, interest, and support, guiding engagement priorities.

Involve elected members

If the consultation is area-based or issue-specific, early involvement of relevant portfolio holders and ward councillors is essential. Councillors can:

• Provide local insight and intelligence
• Act as trusted intermediaries between government teams and the community
• Help answer questions and encourage participation
• Suggest additional relevant networks and groups to engage
• Leveraging their knowledge can significantly enhance the reach, relevance, and quality of your consultation.

Stage 2: Decide what to consult on

Once you've identified who to consult, the next critical step is deciding what to ask them. This stage centres on clarity of purpose, understanding what information you need, why you need it, and how best to collect it.

A clearly defined scope and well-designed questions help keep your consultation focused, achievable, and meaningful for both your team and consultees.

Be clear about your purpose

Start by reflecting on these key questions:

• Why are we consulting?
• What decisions or changes will this consultation inform?
• What specific information do we need to support those decisions?

Focus your consultation on a realistic, specific objective. Be transparent with consultees about what the consultation can and cannot influence, and how their input will be used to shape outcomes.

Also consider existing knowledge and previous consultations:

• What information do we already have?
• Have similar consultations been conducted before?
• What lessons or feedback emerged previously?

Very few consultations start from scratch, and building on past work avoids duplication and reduces consultation fatigue.

Choose the right types of questions

The information you need will guide your choice of question types and consultation methods. Most effective consultations use a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions.

Quantitative questions:

• How many?
• What?
• Where?
• Which?
• When?

Typically, closed and structured, these questions provide clear, measurable data, ideal for statistical analysis and presentation (numbers, charts, percentages).

Qualitative questions:

• Why?
• How?

Often open-ended, these questions explore views, experiences, and motivations. They deliver rich, detailed insight but require thoughtful analysis and interpretation.

When drafting questions, plan how responses will be collected, analysed, and reported.

Set expectations and be transparent

Transparency builds trust and shows consultees that their time and input are valued. Make sure you clearly explain:

• The reason for the consultation
• The options being considered, including their pros and cons
• The decision-making process and the evidence that will inform it
• How consultees' views will be considered and influence decisions
• How and when outcomes and next steps will be communicated, including any relevant appeal processes

Anticipate different expectations among stakeholders about the outcomes. Thinking about these potential perspectives in advance can help prevent misunderstandings.

Design questions from the user's perspective

Don't frame questions solely from a government viewpoint. Instead, consider:

• What do people want to share?
• What issues matter most to them?

Questions centred on consultees' priorities encourage honest, relevant, and valuable feedback.

Stage 3: Decide how to consult

By this stage, you should have a clear understanding of who to consult and what to ask. The next crucial decision is how to carry out the consultation. The methods you choose will directly influence who participates, the quality of feedback, and the inclusiveness of your public consultation.

There is no single "best" method or one-size-fits-all approach. Effective consultation typically involves a mix of methods, tailored to the service, issue, and audience you are engaging.

Design a fit-for-purpose consultation

When planning your consultation methods, keep these key principles in mind:

• Different people have different engagement preferences and needs
• A single consultation method (e.g., one focus group) is rarely sufficient on its own
• Each consultation should be custom-built around the specific issue
• Collaborate with other services or external agencies to run joint consultations where possible
• Try to build on an existing consultation activity instead of repeating previous work
• Aim to engage a representative sample of the local population
• Ensure proper timing to maximise participation

Common consultation methods

Below is an overview of commonly used public consultation methods:

Online surveys and questionnaires

• Ideal for gathering large-scale views in a standardised format
• Best kept short and focused to encourage completion
• Suitable for collecting quantitative and qualitative insights

Consultation documents

• Often used by public bodies for formal engagement
• Provide detailed information and structured questions

Postal surveys

• Useful when you need to share detailed information as well as collect views
• Generally, have lower response rates than online surveys

Focus groups

• Enable in-depth exploration of issues from participants' perspectives
• Particularly valuable for complex or sensitive topics

Telephone surveys

• Enable in-depth exploration of issues from participants' perspectives
• Particularly valuable for complex or sensitive topics

In-person interviews

• Often, the most statistically reliable method
• Allow precise control of participant selection

Additional engagement approaches

Depending on your objectives, you may also want to consider:

• Creating leaflets or reports featuring statistics and success stories
• Advertisements in local media
• Community drop-in events or townhalls
• Mobile consultation units or kiosks located at community centres, libraries, or shopping centres
• Feedback boxes placed in libraries, council offices, or community centres for ongoing input collection
• Phone lines for suggestions or complaints
• Online webinars or virtual town halls to facilitate remote participation and live Q&A
• Social media engagement through targeted campaigns or interactive posts
• Text messaging (SMS) surveys for quick polls or reminders are beneficial for those with limited internet access
• Partnerships with local faith groups or cultural organisations to build trust and reach underrepresented communities
• Engagement through schools, youth clubs, or educational settings to reach young people and families

Choosing public consultation methods for different audiences

Understanding these preferences will help you choose the most effective mix of consultation tactics and methods to maximise engagement and inclusion:

• Most people prefer home-based methods like surveys or information sent directly to them
• Public meetings tend to be less popular overall
• Higher-income groups are more likely to engage through panels or formal groups
• Lower-income groups may feel information-poor and are less inclined to participate without tailored support
• Younger people often prefer focus groups or street interviews
• Older people frequently engage better as part of neighbourhood groups

Discover why public consultation should go beyond online surveys and consider other consultation methods →

Stage 4: Start the consultation

At this stage, your planning moves into action. You're ready to launch your consultation and begin engaging with the public. How you conduct the public consultation is just as important as who you consult and what you ask.

To build trust and credibility, it's essential to follow clear standards and be transparent at every step.

Embed the consultation within your department

Ensure your consultation is properly embedded across your team or department to guarantee accountability and avoid duplication across services.

Avoid common consultation pitfalls

Past experiences often make people skeptical about consultations. Common concerns include:

• Not being told how their feedback will be used
• Never hearing about consultation outcomes
• Being consulted after decisions have been made
• Being asked the same questions repeatedly without a visible change

To avoid these pitfalls and "token" consultation, be honest, timely, and open. Consider involving a small group of users and non-users to help oversee the consultation process and ensure that feedback genuinely informs decision-making.

Be clear and transparent with participants

From the start, participants should clearly understand:

• Who is being consulted and why
• What decisions their input may influence
• Who will make those decisions
• When will decisions be taken?
• How and when the results will be communicated
• Whether anonymity will be maintained
• Who to contact if they have concerns about the process

Clear communication helps manage expectations and reassures participants that their input matters.

Follow good practice when running the consultation

To make your public consultation inclusive, accessible, fair, and effective:

• Use plain English and avoid jargon
• Avoid leading or ambiguous questions
• Offer a choice of consultation methods to accommodate different preferences
• Consider the needs of hard-to-reach and underrepresented groups
• Allow sufficient time for responses
• Plan how you will balance conflicting views fairly
• Decide whether to implement the public consultation in-house or hire an external agency (or a mix of both)
• Integrate the consultation into your wider service review and planning processes

Be aware of risks and challenges

Public consultations bring benefits but also risks and tensions. Key challenges to watch out for include:

• Raising unrealistic expectations about timelines for change
• Consulting on decisions that have effectively already been made
• Managing conflicting views among stakeholder groups
• Low participation without proactive engagement strategies
• Biased or unrepresentative responses if relying on a single feedback channel

Running meaningful public consultations often involves tension, and governments ultimately have final responsibility for balancing competing viewpoints in decision-making.

Final checks before launching a public consultation

Before you start, confirm:

• Who you're consulting and which views will carry the most weight
• That you're asking the right questions
• The appropriateness of your selected consultation methods
• Costs and available budget
• The decisions your consultation will influence and their timing
• Compliance of your consultation with data protection and privacy requirements (where are you going to store your data, and how do you control who has access to it?)
• Keep your consultation focused and proportionate. For broad or complex consultations, allow a minimum of six to twelve weeks to facilitate meaningful participation.