Across the world, enhancing citizens’ participation in democratic processes such as policymaking has been shown to improve trust in democratic institutions and leaders (OECD).
Regaining trust is a political challenge. A 2024 OECD report on trust in institutions shows that while trust in institutions is low, the single biggest factor that influences whether people do trust government is ‘having a say in decision making’. After the Westminster Climate Assembly, the percentage of assembly members that trusted Westminster Council to act on the recommendations from the assembly grew from 52% to 73%. The number of people who felt listened to by their council grew from 27 to 63%. Finally, research for the Citizens' White Paper shows that when people know a policy has been made with “people like me” trust in government increases by 10% (35-45%).
Participatory methods improve public wellbeing by enhancing trust through involving the public at different stages of the policy cycle, from informing and consulting the public, through to deeper deliberative methods which enable involvement and collaboration with policymakers. Further, by demonstrating to the wider public that decisions have been made or informed by people like themselves, they are more likely to accept these decisions even when they may not agree with them (Climate Outreach). King’s College London report that 84% of people in the UK trust their neighbours, compared to trust in the government, parliament and local authorities being around a third of the UK population. Trust is an essential part of having a mandate to make decisions and deliver change. It goes both ways with participatory processes increasing trust in authorities, and also authorities trusting the public to be able to input into decisions that benefit everyone.