Insights from co-design for relational policy-making: Farm animal health and welfare policy in the UK

IMPACTThis article offers practical lessons for policy-makers working in contested, low-trust environments. It shows that co-design can build trust only when participation is supported by relational practices such as shared leadership, peer challenge and clear principles of engagement. It also highlights a common risk in public administration: trust generated during the co-design process can quickly erode if delivery systems, fiscal rules and organizational structures are not aligned with what was agreed. The findings therefore suggest that governments should invest not only in co-design processes, but also in the institutional conditions to enable collaborative innovation needed to carry relational commitments into implementation and throughout the full policy cycle leading to a long-term sector transformation.