6 years on: moving forward

As we reflect on 6 amazing years running Telescope, our central truth really shines out: the breadth, depth, and humanity of frontline expertise is an incredibly valuable asset and should be appreciated and used as such when designing policies and services for our society. Connecting frontline practitioners and policymakers remains a mission that everyone involved with Telescope still fundamentally believes in. 

Working with more than 370 people and 30+ organisations over the last 6 years has shown us just how much experience, empathy, and intention for change there is among our public service workers. And as a new government hits its one-year anniversary and continues to grapple with multiple complex societal challenges, we've seen more teams undertake this kind of connective, creative work internally - bringing together "frontline staff networks" as in the MoJ, or integrating practitioners as key members of policy teams as in the Department for Education. This is really exciting and hopefully will pave the way for a new way of making policy going forward.

Some of the examples and stories we’ve heard show real interest in practitioner voices, and indicate increasing numbers of processes whereby both frontline experience and user research are being embedded into policy teams.

From within DfE, we heard a policymaker explain how “the Department has a lead user researcher, and senior user researchers across the programme. We work to understand our user needs and pain points, and that means we can work in a smarter way as policy professionals.” In this case, we love the deliberate way that the term “users” is beung applied - for this team within DfE, their “users” are actually headteachers, education practitioners, and all those people within the school work force who have direct and regular interaction with students and parents.

Within the MoJ, we’ve come across the Frontline Staff Network, a brilliant internal network focusing on the importance of collaboration between HQ and the frontline, and sharing best practice examples of how colleagues working in HQ have brought in the frontline insight into their work. Increasingly, many criminal justice frontline staff go into HQ so they can also provide that insight to colleagues.

In health, we were introduced to the NHS Leadership for Personalised Care Programme, run by a former senior NHS staff member which brings “listening to communities” to the heart of care design. Throughout the process of producing the 10-year plan for health, it has appeared that Wes Streeting may be more open to listening than some of his predecessors - welcoming dissent, answering real live questions, inviting NHS England staff to DHSC briefings, and more.

We’ve also come across the National Collaborative Network that was born out of the Scottish substance abuse team within Scotland health - the team is working with a panel of third-sector experts to get changes implemented quickly and effectively.

In energy, we remain excited to see what might come out of the Mayor of London’s Community Energy Taskforce, bringing together government with experts and representatives in the field, local, and private sectors.

In this 2024 report, the IfG highlighted how “Businesses, charities and frontline public services in particular often have immediate and direct understanding of the consequences of government policies, or the problems that need to be addressed, but their voices are too frequently lacking in discussions at the centre” (pg 33). Alongside this, we loved attending their event on “Outside influence: How to build external voices into the centre of government”.

All of this is brilliant. It’s exactly the kind of approach and mindset Telescope has been trying to encourage for 6 years, so we’re thrilled to see this taking hold gradually. Of course, the more this work is done “in-house”, the less need there is for us - but that is the right way for things to go!

Our mission is still as important as ever - I still feel incredibly passionate whenever I write or speak about it. For example, we recently took on a project with the Welsh government researching criminal justice devolution. It’s clear that our USP is our ability to encourage and support the Welsh government to undertake research that includes some practitioners, not only academics (many of whom have had the opportunity to feed into research many times before). What’s exciting is that our mission is being achieved in lots of different ways now, and that means one thing - more collaborative, inclusive, hopefully effective policymaking.

So now, after 6 years, as co-founders we’ve decided it's time for us to move into new phases as well. We're taking the decision to close down Telescope - a difficult one to make, but one that feels right for where we, and the business, are at now. For the next phase, we are all going to be taking on different, still purposeful new roles: Ruth at the Blavatnik School of Government, Sarah at the Wellcome Trust, and Hebe within government, joining the Department of Business and Trade focusing on small business strategy.

We're so proud of everything we've achieved by working as a partner with government departments and teams, across 12 sectors and multiple UK locations. You can read more about all the work we’ve done and the change we’ve made via our website, as well as having a look at our new Telescope toolkit. And even though the formal business is closing, we're taking so much of what we have learnt, and what we believe in, onwards into these new phases. Please do stay in touch!

We couldn’t have got to where we are today, with all the wonderful experiences, learning, impact, and insights, if it weren’t for all the amazing people who’ve helped us along the way. As we wrap up, we’d like to say a particular thank you to some key supporters, partners, and clients who have been prominent in our journey:

Ella Thorpe-Beeston

Kit Collingwood

Sara Edwards

Tom Horton

Jack Graham and the whole Year Here family

James Teasdale

Kelly Bewers

Cathy Wang

Amy Lord

Nicky Dunlop

Donna Whitehall

Indy Sira

CJ Tayeh

Jonny Weston

Lee Penchion

Rob Trimble

Chloë Roach

Bea Silva Porto

Joe Badman