Budget consultation research 2021-22

An online questionnaire was developed and launched week beginning 8 December 2020 which ran for three weeks and closed on 28 December 2020.

In order to ensure as many residents as possible had the chance to complete the survey, it was promoted through the following communication channels:

• Press release announcing start of consultation and focus on impact of coronavirus / budget plans
• Social media promotion including boosted posts and adverts
• New story on website and promoted on homepage banner and banner that runs across the whole site as well as your city your say page
• Inclusions in news bulletins – all subscriber coronavirus bulletin, Your City Your Say, Family Life, Flag It Up, Business Bulletin
• Inclusion in staff bulletins and all-staff emails
• Newsletter copy and social post/links shared with partner organisations

The consultation attracted 1,579 responses; numbers were considerably down on the previous two years, and were more in line with numbers achieved in 2017.

The Covid-19 pandemic is responsible for lower response numbers

• Shorter consultation period: 3 weeks compared to 7 weeks in 2019
• Respondent burden: backlog of consultations resulted in a constant stream of consultations over the summer and autumn periods
• No public events: government restrictions meant the survey could not be promoted in person at locations around the city