Service design is the process by which all aspects of a service are defined, from how people will access it (referrals and recruitment) to how success will be measured (monitoring and evaluation).
A clear process ensures that you have a coherent and feasible plan to deliver a useful service. It supports you to bring in the right people and organisations (where needed) and helps everyone understand their role.
It also ensures you embed good quality monitoring and evaluation from the start; critical for understanding what’s working/not working, demonstrating success and, in many cases, maintaining funding.
Between 2015 and 2025, the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub (part of Born in Bradford) and Better Start Bradford worked together to design, implement, and evaluate numerous early years services delivered in the community. As part of this process, we have developed a comprehensive approach to service design that embeds monitoring and evaluation throughout.
Over the last decade we have tested and refined processes and tools that support this approach, ensuring they are acceptable to and feasible for use by service commissioners and deliverers.
