NIHR (National Institute for for Health and Social Care Research) has quietly announced that the contract for their Maximising Impact and Public Partnerships (MIPP) Co-ordinating Centre is being terminated in a website post dated 15 January 2026. This was the NIHR service promoting involvement in research that used to be provided by INVOLVE.
There is an online DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care) Question and Answer meeting taking place on Thursday 12th February, which might provide some answers on the reasons for this and the ramifications for lived experience and carer involvement in NIHR funded research.
Below, we are reproducing, with slight editing, a communication from Tina Coldham BEM, Mental Health User Consultant, Trainer & Researcher, which provides more information on the background and the meeting tomorrow:
“Dear friend,
I am reaching out to you as someone who is or has been a public contributor in a research project, part of INVOLVE, a PPI Lead in part of the NIHR infrastructure, an Involvement or Co-production Lead somewhere else, a survivor researcher, activist, ally, or just a good peer who I value.
I am reaching out to you as a public contributor, survivor researcher and P/T PPIE Co-Lead and someone who used to be on the INVOLVE Advisory Group, and Chair of that group from 2017 to 2020. I have no financial consideration in all of this. I just care.
On the 15th January 2026 the DHSC announced quietly by just putting a new page on the main NIHR website (nothing else!) that the Maximising Impact and Public Partnerships part of the Coordinating Centre is to stop operating as of then, and that MIPP will close making all the staff that work there redundant. See https://www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/what-we-do/maximising-impact-and-public-partnerships-nihr. Apparently ‘public partnerships is everyone’s business’. Where have I heard that before? Anyway, the MIPP staff are still employed but perhaps not past the end of March, TBC. They are not allowed to do any MIPP work, attend meetings, talk to anybody etc except where the DHSC tell them to.
Some background
Consumers in NHS Research was set up in the early 1990’s. This became the much loved and internationally respected INVOLVE for many years. Leading nationally on all things ‘involvement in research’ but also held as a beacon for involvement good practice across health and social care in the UK and even across the world!
In 2020 the DHSC decided to join NIHR INVOLVE with the NIHR Centre for Dissemination (for financial reasons), this became CED, or the Centre for Engagement and Dissemination. In April 2025 the NIHR contract to host CED was won by the BMJG and it then became known as Maximising Impact and Public Partnerships (MIPP). After all the HR stuff settled down, the MIPP team set about their chores and then there was some disquiet from the NIHR leadership as to the direction of travel for MIPP. This was news to MIPP staff and the BMJG host as they were delivering on the new contract that was all signed off by the DHSC. Things went quiet over the autumn 2025 and no-one knew what was going on. Jeremy Taylor the Director for MIPP left in December 2025 for pastures new, and the Public Partnerships Programme Board which oversees the work of the ‘involvement’ side of MIPP were looking to hold their next meeting on 14th January. The PPPB consists of NIHR PPI centre heads and several public contributors and is a good model for strategic involvement. This was cancelled at the last minute by the DHSC, then on 15th January I heard that the NIHR had posted on its website that MIPP is to close forthwith.
This means that well over 30+ years of ‘involvement leadership in research’ and wider will disappear. There are lots of questions that still need to be answered by the DHSC as to what this means in practice. However, please see the attachment with the main questions that I plus others have put together in concern that we don’t ‘throw out the baby with the bath water’. I have addressed these directly to the contract holder – Adam Goodger – at DHSC and he has not replied. These have also been sent to NIHR leadership by Jeremy Taylor who although having left, was anxious his role and the teams work doesn’t disappear. The reply to him was minimalist to say the least and did not address any of the concerns. There will be a special PPPB meeting held in March to answer some of these questions – maybe, but it will be the DHSC who decide the agenda, so they might just decide to major on just the things that they want to see going ahead, we just don’t know.
The meeting
There will however be an online Q&A session that the DHSC are holding this Thursday 12th February at 11am for 30 minutes. This is our opportunity to see what Beth Allen, who is Adam Goodger’s boss at the DHSC, is going to say about the decision to close MIPP, and to ask what is to become of the vast area of work and importantly national leadership they provide to the PPI community – public contributors, researchers, and PPI Leads alike. I don’t know of any other online fora being held. If you do, please let me know.
It is open to anybody, although it has not been widely advertised as far as I know. This is my reason for emailing you.
PLEASE, please if you are free at 11am this Thursday 12th, log into and join us at:
DHSC – Q&A Drop-in meeting link
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73673506226?pwd=akbRaSrhb6BKXmEZOeh6KbWBWpaFO9.1
You shouldn’t need it but here are the Meeting ID: 736 7350 6226 and Passcode: 235103
Even if you can’t take part, if you join the meeting with your camera and microphone off, it will swell the meeting attendance numbers and be a show of strength to demonstrate to the DHSC how much people care about national involvement, MIPP (that was the much loved INVOLVE for many years) and the MIPP staff who are soon to be cast aside and unemployed. I am also aware that some of you PPI peeps are soon to lose your jobs with the NIHR, so apologies if this is just too much for you.
Thank you for your attention and please feel free to pass this onto any PPI people, public contributors, workers etc so they are able to join if they are able.
I am very sorry this is such short notice, but it’s just me doing this and the Q&A session was only set up a couple of days ago.
Thank you.
In solidarity
Tina Coldham BEM
Mental Health User Consultant, Trainer & Researcher”
0 Comments