Five  years ago, children's services staff might not have heard of the phrase co-production, let alone considered it part of their daily work. Now we are well on the way to embedding the concept across the whole of Blackpool Council.

In July 2016, a group of people, including young residents, were successful in bringing £11m into the town via the National Lottery Community Fund's HeadStart programme. Aimed at increasing the resilience of our young people, to help prevent them from developing mental health problems as they get older, this funding could not have been more important to the town.