Creating space for lived experience to lead: A case study

When an MP visits a place for an official engagement, it's not always accurately representing what it is like on an ordinary day. Giving MPs a taste of what it feels like to be scrutinised, dismissed and interrogated will hopefully stick with them more than just hearing stories from those who have experienced it.

I'm sure many MPs get lots of letters and reports, and attend meetings in a traditional format, but this is very different.

We worked hard as a group to give MPs a realistic impression of things you might experience in a Jobcentre.

I worked with the Turn2us team to help shape scenarios that reflected the realities of navigating the Jobcentre experience, ensuring they were grounded in genuine experiences rather than assumptions. I believe involving people with lived experience made the event more authentic and impactful. Rather than hearing about these issues in theory, MPs were able to engage with situations that reflected what many people experience in real life.

I shared my personal story so the scenarios could focus on human impact, so the event shows real world challenges.

Bringing my own feelings to the event helped shape how the actors portrayed their roles and emphasised to the MPs just how powerless and disenfranchised I have felt when dealing with the Jobcentre in the past.

I hope it challenged some common misconceptions. People who come through the doors of a Jobcentre are individuals with unique circumstances, many of whom are trying to do the very best they can while managing complex situations. I hope the role-play demonstrated that the Jobcentre is more than a place people visit to access financial support; it is often a place where people seek guidance, understanding and reassurance at some of the most difficult points in their lives.

I hope that when questions around benefits, jobseekers or Jobcentres come up that they will look back on the event and remember how it felt to be treated as a nobody, an inconvenience, and how when they met a good advisor, if felt different. Positive and caring, more collaborative about the next steps forward. It will work as a reminder to examine their own prejudices and bias, and to make sure that system changes, going forward, are more compassionate.

MPs talked afterwards about how much more effective the positive scenario approach felt. The contrast demonstrated that treating people with dignity and listening to them isn't somehow incompatible with helping people move towards employment. In fact, the reactions I heard suggested the opposite.

I hope the MPs realised that the system needs to be reformed to show compassion rather than sanctions. They need to be supportive and not induce fear and anxiety.

It was both surreal and incredibly meaningful. I never imagined that my personal experiences of navigating the Jobcentre would one day help shape conversations in Parliament. What meant the most was knowing that my experiences were being shared as part of a wider effort to improve understanding and influence change. It was reassuring to see lived experience recognised as valuable expertise and treated with the same respect as professional knowledge.

It was strange to see our ideas there, in real life, for others to see. But it meant that we were being seen and telling our stories, showing the reality of how it really is. I hope that being immersed in our world, even if for a few minutes, will help those who have been fortunate enough to not have these experiences empathise with the daily reality that so many people, including their constituents, experience. And that with that empathy, fight for the change so desperately needed.