7 Keys to Citizenship

Co-production and the 7 Keys to Citizenship

The 7 Keys to Citizenship, created by Dr Simon Duffy and Wendy Perez are ideas about what people need to live a good life as part of their community. They focus on things like having choice, being included, having a home, enough money, and getting the right help. In social care, these ideas help us think about support in a way that gives people more control and independence, rather than just providing services. We use the 7 Keys to inform all of our work.

The 7 Keys to Citizenship

• Life – Everyone has the right to live a full life in the community
• Love – Relationships and belonging are essential for wellbeing
• Freedom – People should have choice and control over their lives
• Purpose – Everyone needs meaningful roles and goals
• Money – Fair access to resources to live independently
• Home – A safe, secure place to live
• Help – Support that enables independence, not dependency

As a person, we need all seven keys because together they make a complete foundation for living a good life. If one is missing, it can affect everything else.

For example, having a home without enough money can lead to insecurity, and having money without relationships can cause loneliness. Each key supports the others: choice and control give freedom, relationships bring belonging, and support helps people stay independent. In social care, meeting all these needs means people are treated as citizens with rights, not just as service users, and can live full lives in their communities.

Using the seven keys to guide our projects means making sure people can make decisions about their own lives, build relationships, and do things that give them purpose. It also means giving fair access to resources and making sure support helps people live the life they want. When these ideas are combined with co-production, they become even stronger because people who use services work alongside professionals to design and improve them. This approach makes social care more inclusive and focused on what really matters to people.