The Task 

Following on from the OPCC commissioning TONIC to undertake the Victims’ Needs Assessment 2023 and Victims’ Voice Project 2024, TONIC were asked to facilitate three victim evaluation panels to support the OPCC’s recommissioning process. The purpose of the panels was for TONIC to support victims to score two questions from bids that had been submitted in application to be the future Adult Victim Support Service, Children and Young Victims Support Service, and the Sexual Violence Specialist Support Service across Avon and Somerset. Specifically, the panels reviewed, provided feedback on, and scored questions in relation to how the prospective providers would seek to engage with victims of crime locally, how they would promote their service, and how they would continue to gather feedback from service users to shape their design and delivery. Ultimately, the aim was to ensure the voice of victims and survivors remained central to the procurement process.

TONIC’s Approach 

Through the Victims’ Voice Project, TONIC engaged 282 victims and survivors, of which 50 consented to support the OPCC with future feedback and co-production work. TONIC contacted several of these individuals to further communication, inviting them to take part in the commissioning process, 10 of whom agreed.

The participants were split into three groups and were asked to attend a specific online panel meeting to discuss the bid responses and provide an overall score. Prior to the meeting, participants were sent the relevant bid responses to enable an opportunity for an initial read through and to pose any questions or concerns. Ahead of participating, all panel members were asked to read and sign a conflict-of-interest disclosure form. 

Each online panel meeting was attended by two TONIC researchers who remained impartial but guided the discussion as well as recording notes and the final scores along with the reasoning underpinning the decisions made. After each panel, the participants were sent additional support information and were given the opportunity to feedback on the process. TONIC then shared the notes and scoring with the OPCC so that these could be fed into the wider evaluation process.

The Outcome

In addition to feeding into the overall evaluation process, TONIC were asked to provide a presentation to the OPCC. This outlined the importance of co-production and how to achieve this in a genuine way, the process TONIC took, relevant themes that came out of the victim panels, feedback from participants. Finally, TONIC provided tips and suggestions for the OPCC and future commissioned services to consider in order to truly hear and utilise the victims’ voice in service design and delivery, and embed this as business as usual moving forwards in Avon and Somerset.