A warm welcome to our webpage
Co-production Matters H&F is a group of Disabled residents and community organisations working together with Councillors and senior council officers to turn the Council’s commitment to working in co-production with residents, into reality. The group was originally set up in 2019 and was previously known at the H&F Co-production Implementation Group (HFCIG).
H&F sees co-production as an important way to make change happen, removing the barriers that prevent our residents from having great lives.
Co-production gives life to the council’s commitment to 'Doing things with residents not to them'. This is a commitment to all our residents. We started locally with Disabled residents, as our Disabled People's Commission found that Disabled people were the furthest away from decision-making. Information about co-production in Hammersmith & Fulham and how to get involved.
As a resident and a local councillor, I am over the moon to be working with so many residents, community groups, council staff and councillors who all want to create the most accessible and inclusive borough in the country by working together."
Councillor Sharon Holder (Co-chair of Co-production Matters H&F)
Having recently got involved in working to improve local services and support, I am loving seeing the energy and commitment from increasing numbers of residents to get stuck in and get things done. I am so proud to be co-chairing Co-production Matters H&F, which is helping to coordinate lots of different areas of work."
Donna Fenner (Resident co-chair of Co-production Matters H&F and AOD Trustee).
What does Co-production Matters H&F do?
The group is working together on a plan to encourage and enable co-production across all council departments, and the whole community.
The aims of the group are:
1. To give energy, leadership, and strategic development to make sure that all the 8 recommendations of the Disabled Peoples Commission report are put into place.
2. To push for a culture of co-production that means that all residents can work together with the council, in a true and equal way. This is to make Hammersmith & Fulham a borough that values and respects the equality and diversity of all its residents.
3. To bring together representatives from each of the themed co-production groups to share good practice and learning.
The group uses the social model of disability and a human rights way of working in all its work as a challenge to the medical model of disability which sees Disabled people as the problem to be fixed. When we talk about the Social model of disability we mean that Disabled people are seen as people with impairments who are ‘disabled’ by the barriers in society. These barriers discriminate against Disabled people and push us out of society. It is the way society is run and organised that is the problem, not the Disabled person.
Disability discrimination is not inevitable and is a problem that needs to be fixed by society through the removal of attitudinal, environmental, organisational and communication barriers. This is why Co-production Matters H&F uses a Social Model of Disability approach in everything that it does.
When we use the term Disabled people, we include ALL Disabled people with physical, cognitive, and sensory barriers, people with learning difficulties; Deaf people, deafened, hard of hearing people, mental health system users, and survivors, neuro-diverse people such as those with Dyspraxia, ADHD, Asperger Syndrome and Dyslexia, people with long term health conditions and others. We mean Disabled people of all ages that experience barriers including Disabled children & young people with Special Educational Needs labels.
Co-production Matters H&F are committed to embedding the LBHF commitment to co-production with residents and to organise opportunities to meet with residents to promote coproduction and to encourage more residents to get involved.
In 2021 a review was done, and a number of recommendations were made to update and improve the group and its ways of working. Recommendations included the need for the group to refresh its Terms of Reference, have a bigger public profile and to organise opportunities to meet with residents to promote coproduction and to encourage more residents to get involved.
Who is in Co-production Matters H&F?
The membership of Co-production Matters H&F includes 6 Disabled residents representing each of the existing co-production groups, community organisations, senior council staff and councillors.
The group is co-chaired by Councillor Sharon Holder Cabinet member for Public Realm, Hammersmith & Fulham Council and Donna Fenner Disabled Resident and Trustee of Action on Disability (AoD)
Co-production Matters H&F resources
Contact us and get involved
Our members
Kate Betteridge
Group: Civic Campus Disabled Residents Team (DRT)
I’m a Disabled person living and working in Hammersmith and Fulham. I will be representing the Civic Campus Disabled Residents’ Team on this group. I’ve spent my career ensuring that people are involved in the development of the services I am responsible for, so I’ve been a big supporter of LBHF’s commitment to co-production since I was a member of the Disabled People’s Commission from 2016-2018. I am very happy to join this group and hope to learn from the group’s work and take any learning back to the Civic Campus DRT to potentially improve our co-production experience. I have experienced significant barriers in my life since I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) when I was 13 years old.
Andrew Hodgson
Group: Inclusive Environment Disabled Residents Team
I have been living in the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham since 1987. I attended a course designed for access consultants run by HAFAD (now called Action on Disability) in 2002-03 in which one of the components of study was Disability Equality. For a number of years I was Vice-Chair of the Hammersmith & Fulham Disability Forum. I have also been chairman of the Pocklington Lodge Tenants’ Association for a number of years and since 2016 have been president of the National Federation of the Blind (NFBUK). The latter organisation is primarily campaigning, but also promotes self-help amongst vision impaired people. Since 2021 I have represented the Inclusive Environment Disabled Residents Team and I will be representing them on this group.
Natasha Trotman
Group: Inclusive Design Review Panel (IDRP)
I am representing the Inclusive Design Review Panel on Co-production Matters H&F. I'm passionate about creating an inclusive and accessible borough for all; this includes all who experience the borough through living, working, studying, and volunteering here. Co-developing and building on the important work done in Hammersmith and Fulham through my roles on the Inclusive Design Review Panel (IDRP) mean something to me personally and professionally. One of my main motivations is using every opportunity to bolster the work already done and contribute to meaningful change by steering, encouraging, and activating co-production-behaviours, methods, and approaches in the borough (and beyond) to foster inclusive and accessible futures for all.
Bridget Harris
Group: Digital Accessibility Group (DAG)
I am representing the Digital Accessibility Group (DAG) on this group. DAG is a group made up of Disabled and non-Disabled residents working with the council to co-produce their digital transformation plan. I have a lot of experience working with residents in the community, which often involved completing surveys with them and submitting their views on their behalf. I also completed the co-production training course run by Action on Disability in 2022.
Claudia Domingues
Group: Disabled People’s Housing Strategy Implementation Group
I am representing the Disabled People’s Housing Strategy Implementation Group. I am a resident of Hammersmith and Fulham since 1999. I work at the University of the Arts London as an academic support for the Awarding Body. I am training to become a Unison Disabled people representative. I am also the current co-chair of the Disabled People’s Housing Strategy Implementation Group.
Mahdi Pour Nezami
Group: Direct Payment Steering Group
I am Disabled person living in Hammersmith and Fulham. The reason I joined Co-production Matters H&F is to represent the Direct Payment Steering Group. I also want to learn about co-production and how to make it happen. I am co-chair of the direct payment steering group which promotes the uptake of direct payments to deliver Independent Living.
Donna Fenner
Community Organisation: Action on Disability (AOD)
I am representing Action on Disability (AOD). I am also the Resident Co-chair of Co-production Matters H&F and trustee of AOD. AOD are a West London
Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO) led by Disabled people, for Disabled people. We work to ensure that Disabled people have independence, choice and control over their own lives. We promote the rights of Disabled people across all the services we provide: employment, youth, welfare benefits and Direct Payments. We ensure that Disabled people can make informed decisions about their own lives. We work to see a fairer, more inclusive society and we challenge discrimination if we see it. We work in partnership with other organisations promoting the rights of Disabled people, because we are stronger together.
Sue Spiller
Community Organisation: Sobus
I will be representing SOBUS on this group. Sobus is the local umbrella organisation for the voluntary and community sector in H&F and provides a wide range of support services for local charities, community groups and social enterprises. Our vision is of strong and engaged communities, where residents and organisations are empowered to make a positive difference to the causes they believe in, and our mission is to achieve this through providing voice, representation, and support to residents through the organisations that support them. We offer a central point of contact for the local VCS, providing a conduit of communication with and between local VCS organisations and local residents and statutory body agencies.
John Wood
Community Organisation: Safety Net People First
I will be representing Safety Net People First on Co-production Matters H&F. Safety Net People First are a self-advocacy group run by and for people with learning difficulties. Self-advocacy is about speaking up for yourself and others, taking control and making your own decisions. Our aim is to improve services and access for people with learning difficulties and campaign on real issues faced by people with learning difficulties. We want to be included in important decisions that affect our lives. We raise awareness of the needs of people with learning difficulties: in employment, education, training, housing, and health.