Paying young people for co-design: why it matters and how to do it properly

Most organisations that involve young people in shaping a service do not pay them. The reasons are familiar: budgets, procurement rules, a worry that payment “changes the motivation”, the belief that experience or a certificate is reward enough. The result is that participation quietly selects for young people who can afford to give their time away, whose parents can drive them, who are already confident in a room of adults. The service ends up designed by the young people least like the ones it is for.

We pay for substantial contribution. This article explains why, what it costs and how to handle the practicalities that stop people doing it.

What “substantial contribution” means

Not every interaction needs an invoice. A ten-minute chat at a youth club, a quick poll or a one-off feedback form is participation of a lighter kind, and payment there can feel transactional. Substantial contribution is different: a young person attending a series of workshops, reviewing prototypes, joining a decision-making group or producing material that will be used. That is work. If an adult consultant did it, they would be paid. The same applies.

Write the line in advance. In our participation plans we set out which activities are paid, at what rate, and which are not, so that nobody is surprised and no facilitator has to improvise.

Why payment changes the room

Payment signals that the young person’s time and knowledge have value equal to everyone else’s at the table. It changes how facilitators behave, because you prepare differently for people you are paying. It widens who can take part, because a young carer or a young person with a weekend job can justify the hours. And it makes decision-making power real: it is harder to ignore feedback you have paid for.

It also sets an expectation. Paid participants tend to turn up, prepare and challenge. That is what you want.

What it costs

Less than most people assume, and far less than the cost of building the wrong thing. A group of eight young people, six two-hour sessions, paid at a rate equivalent to the London Living Wage with travel and food covered, comes to a modest fraction of a typical digital project budget. It is the cheapest insurance a project can buy. Budget for it as a line item from the start rather than trying to find it later.

The practicalities

Cash, vouchers or bank transfer

Bank transfer treats young people as adults and gives them the choice of what to do with the money. Vouchers are easier administratively but restrict choice and can feel patronising. Cash is immediate but creates record-keeping and safeguarding questions. Ask the young people and the host organisation what works and be prepared to run more than one method.

Benefits and tax

Payments can affect a household’s benefits, and this is the most common reason young people or parents decline. Provide clear written information before anyone agrees to take part, offer a conversation with the host organisation’s advice worker where one exists and be ready to offer a voucher alternative where a young person asks for it. Keep payment records for the period tax law requires and tell participants you are doing so.

Under-16s

Payment to under-16s usually goes to a parent or carer, or is made in vouchers, depending on the host organisation’s policy. Follow the host’s arrangements, get written consent and make sure the young person knows what is being paid and why.

Procurement

Council procurement rules sometimes make it hard to pay individuals directly. The usual answer is to route payment through the host youth organisation, with the participation cost written into the contract as a deliverable with a measure attached. Doing this also gives the commissioner a social value line that is real and auditable.

What payment does not fix

Payment does not make participation meaningful on its own. Young people can be paid to sit through a presentation and tick a box. Meaningful participation needs a clear purpose, real decisions still open to influence, accessible sessions, feedback on what changed and safeguarding throughout. Payment is one of six commitments we make, not the whole of them.

It also does not replace progression. The young people who contribute most are often the ones who could do this work professionally. Where a contract allows, build in placements, references and routes into paid digital roles, and be honest when it does not allow.

Where to start

Write a participation plan before the project starts. Name the activities, the rate, the method, the benefits information and the person responsible. Put it in the budget. Then hold to it. The first time a young person changes a design decision and gets paid for doing so, the case for the approach makes itself.

How we do this in practice is set out in how we work and our equality and inclusion policy.