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North Lincolnshire Residents’ Panel

Information about the North Lincolnshire residents’ panel and how to join.

Join the North Lincolnshire residents’ panel

Do you have something to say about living in North Lincolnshire? Tell us what you think by applying to join the North Lincolnshire Residents’ Panel.

The online panel is made up of local people who we contact when we want to get a better understanding of residents’ views on local issues. Panel members are sent regular surveys asking for views on a range of topics. We regularly let you know how the results are being used to shape and improve local services.

Anybody who is aged 16 or above and lives in North Lincolnshire can apply to join the panel. To ensure that the panel is representative of North Lincolnshire’s diverse population, acceptance onto the panel is not automatic. We will let you know by email if you have been accepted or not. Anyone who is not accepted will be added to a reserve list.

Alternatively, email residentspanel@northlincs.gov.uk or call 01724 297000. Please include your name and email address. Please state that you are aged 16 or above and you live in North Lincolnshire.

All information will be treated in the strictest confidence and will only be used to help shape and improve local services. For more information, read our Residents’ Panel privacy notice.

Year One Summary

Thank you for your responses to the surveys that have been conducted over the last 12 months. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us to develop future plans and shape service delivery.

Read our Year One Summary [PDF, 210Kb] of the findings from each survey, along with an update on what we are doing as a result.

Frequently asked questions

The North Lincolnshire Residents’ Panel is made up of people who live in North Lincolnshire. Members of the panel are recruited to be broadly representative of the wider population of the area in terms of their demographic profile and geographic distribution. Panel members are invited to participate in a number of surveys and engagement exercises per year to:

  • Feedback on local services
  • Give views on any new proposals
  • Help identify future needs and priorities

We aim to keep surveys short and concise and they should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Most surveys will consist of a one off sets of questions that are predominantly quantitative in nature. Occasionally surveys or questions will be repeated in order to track topics over time. We may also from time to time ask panel members for views on specific issues rather than issue a survey.

The minimum age requirement to be a member of the panel is 16. There is no maximum age limit. No previous experience is necessary and members do not necessarily have to be a user of services that we may ask them about. Ideally, panel members will require access to a computer or mobile device and internet, as we will be primarily deploying surveys through online methods. There are free to use computers in all North Lincolnshire public libraries and support and assistance is available.

We are however keen to ensure that nobody is excluded from participating in the panel so invite applicants to advise of preferred method of communication and how they are able to participate. We will strive to ensure we can meet these requests.

We invite applications from anyone over the age of 16 in North Lincolnshire who wants to join the panel. However, we need to make sure the panel has a balance of people from all areas, ages and backgrounds. We may have to hold applications on a waiting list if we have too many people with the same characteristics etc.

We have enlisted a third party supplier to provide expert assistance in ensuring that the North Lincolnshire Residents’ Panel is broadly statistically and demographically representative of the community we serve.

Membership of the panel will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it remains broadly representative of the local population. We may target specific groups in an attempt to ensure the balance of the panel is broadly representative.

Employees of North Lincolnshire Council are welcome to apply to join the panel if they are resident in North Lincolnshire. However, on the registration form we do ask for this to be disclosed. This helps us to be able to segment as necessary depending on the nature of surveys. Staff members who join the panel are expected to answer/participate as a resident and not an employee.

Panel members will be invited to participate in a maximum of six surveys a year. These will be sent by the method selected when people register, either online via email or paper copy through the post. There is no obligation for panel members to fill out every survey. However, the more responses we get for each survey the better the results.

On occasions, panel members may also be invited to attend focused discussion groups in person to talk about things in more detail. Or be invited to participate in follow up telephone feedback. In all cases, panel members will be able to opt in to these. And any face to face or telephone interviews will be arranged at a time to suit members.

We are committed to providing accessible services to the people and communities we serve. To ensure that we meet everyone’s needs and do not discriminate, and in order to ensure the panel is demographically representative, we will invite prospective panel members to provide personal information as set out in the privacy notice.

For some questions there will be a prefer not to say option and applicants will be advised to only provide information they are comfortable disclosing.

We will treat all information in the strictest confidence in line with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). All responses will be anonymised so that they do not identify any participants.

In order to administer the panel we will need to collect, hold and use personal data of panel members. Please see our Privacy Notice for more information.

Panel membership is a voluntary role and therefore no payments will be made. However, on occasions the council may run prize draws for participants to boost the number of responses. While the role is unpaid, it does however give residents a chance to have views heard by local decision-makers. Panel members will be helping to achieve the ambition for North Lincolnshire to be the best place for people to live, work, visit and invest.

We will not be able to provide individual feedback. We will however keep you updated on panel activity throughout the year.

Membership of the panel is totally optional. If at any time members decide they no longer wish to be contacted, they can simply contact the Democratic Services team who administer the panel and asked to be removed from the panel.

The council is not looking to withdraw membership from any panel members. However, we reserve the right to withdraw membership in the event of any abuse or derogatory language being used in the submission of responses. Or if members do not respond to any surveys within a 12 month period.