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Welcome

Your public involvement newsletter shares news and information for people who are interested in and planning public involvement in health and social care research.

Anyone can subscribe, just share this link.

By public involvement in research, we mean research that is done ‘with’ or ‘by’ the public, not only 'to', 'for' or 'about' them. This includes patients, carers, advocates, service users, and other members of the community. 

If you’re reading this, you’ll know that public involvement is important, expected and possible in all types of health and social care research. There are many ways that people with relevant experience can contribute to designing, carrying out and sharing research. And there is a wealth of information about how to do this well, so research is more inclusive, relevant and impactful.  

We hope this newsletter:

• makes that information easier to find
• shares useful learning and reflections

Make sure you’re also subscribed to HRA Latest for:

• invitations to get involved in the HRA’s work
• HRA news and developments

In this month's newsletter

• Working well together: Public contributor agreement development
• New payment rates for public involvement
• MRC public partnerships in research webinar
• Developing access and support needs forms and processes for public contributors
• New organisations join the Shared Commitment to public involvement

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For support with this, or if you need the newsletter in a different format, you can read our guidance, email the public involvement team at public.involvement@hra.nhs.uk or call on 0207 104 8161.

Working well together: Public contributor agreement development

New payment rates for public involvement

The NIHR has increased the payment rate for public involvement within the NIHR by 10%. The uplift came into effect from 16 December 2025.

The HRA's current public involvement payment rates are aligned with the NIHR's and we are now reviewing our payments to bring them in line with the new NIHR rates, with the aim of introducing an increase in 2026.

Naho Yamazaki, Deputy Director of Policy and Partnerships at the HRA, said: "Public involvement is vital to high quality health and social care research, and in building trust in the research process".

"It is important that we properly recognise the contribution of people who give their valuable time and experience".

MRC public partnerships in research webinar

Join the Medical Research Council (MRC) for a one-hour webinar which provides guidance on effectively integrating public partnerships into MRC research applications on 24 March 2026, from 2pm to 3pm.

It is likely to be of most interest to researchers, research office professional services staff supporting grant applications, and the public involvement and engagement community.

MRC is encouraging its research community to consider how public partnerships can inform and improve research and be of mutual benefit.

Further information can be found on their public partnerships strategy webpages, including examples of good practice for researchers.

Developing access and support needs forms and processes for public contributors

Last year, we told you that we were working on how people who work with the HRA inform us about their access and support needs. We held a workshop to design a form and some template emails for sharing information about people’s access and support needs appropriately with their consent.

Barbara Molony-Oates, HRA Public Involvement Manager and Rachel Hill, public contributor reflect on the importance of public involvement in shaping this work.

"For me, knowing that we were involving people with access and support needs that we would not know about until they had been recruited, meant that I really had to think carefully at the planning stage about the amount of time that might be needed in between recruitment and the actual activity in order to be able to put any adjustments in place.  I realised that we need to be doing this more proactively for all of our involvement work, as we never know until after the recruitment whether people have got access and support needs". Barbara Molony-Oates, HRA Public Involvement Manager

"Real difference was made in this meeting not only to me but in the wider action later taken. My comments were fully considered and acted upon as evidenced in the reported recommendations to the HRA post meetings. With a follow up email of "you said/we did" it was clear exactly how PPI from myself and other contributors was used and actioned".

New organisations join the Shared Commitment to public involvement

We are delighted to welcome NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre and Arthritis UK to the Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in Health and Social Care Research bringing the number of partners to 35.

The Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in Health and Social Care Research is administered by the HRA on behalf of all the partner organisations.  The joint commitment aims to improve the quality and extent of public involvement across the health and care research sector.

Complete this quick survey to tell us if the newsletter is useful. And email the HRA’s public involvement team if there’s something you’d like to share or know more about.