Mainstreaming Participatory Budgeting for Service Commissioning and Investment is relevant to any organisation working in the UK with an interest in furthering democratic engagement.

This briefing was originally produced in 2016 in response to Scotland’s Community Choices programme.  In March 2025 it was updated by Jez Hall to add refreshed content, new examples and reflect Shared Future’s current branding.

It complements and extends our Guide to Participatory Budgeting Grant-making.

We build on learning about PB since 2000, when the first UK learning exchange to Porto Alegre took place.  In 2008 the Department of Communities and Local Government promoted a national PB strategy in England.  This new guide includes ideas and examples from then, inspirations from other countries, as well as more recent experiences in the UK. It proposes six different approaches to mainstreaming PB at scale.

We remain grateful for the Scottish Government’s support, which originally made this guide possible.

It will take time to reach PB at scale, but in order to do so you must begin somewhere.