Co-production and the third sector: conceptualising different approaches to service user involvement

The centrality of the third sector in the co-production of public services is seemingly based on the assumption that it can act as an effective proxy for service users. However, the third sector encompasses a broad range of organisational forms, interests and governance arrangements, which all have implications for the type and nature of relationships between the sector and its constituencies. Through analysis of empirical data drawn from research on a prominent co-production model in Scotland, we construct and present a typology of different approaches to service user involvement.