Who are Llais?
Do you use NHS or social care services in Wales?
If you do, you can help us make them better for everyone by having your say.
Llais is the national, independent body set up by the Welsh Government to give you, the people of Wales, a stronger voice in your health and social care services.
We’re here to make sure your views and experiences are used by decision-makers to plan and deliver better health and social care services.
Where did Llais come from?
Llais, the Citizen Voice Body, was set up in April 2023 through the Health and Social Care (Quality and Engagement) (Wales) Act. We replaced the former Community Health Councils and we look at people’s experiences of both health and social care services.
What do Llais do?
We have seven regional offices that cover the whole of Wales. Your local Llais team gather your experiences – good and bad – of health and social care services.
We work closely with local NHS bodies, social care, and third-sector care providers to ensure your voice is heard locally, regionally and nationally. As a statutory body, they must listen and respond to our findings.
Our four key duties
1) To engage with and listen to people and communities about your experiences of health and social care.
2) To represent those views to health and social care providers.
Under the Act, they must let us know what they plan to do with your feedback. If they cannot act on what they have been told, they need to say why.
3) To provide a complaints advocacy service in each region for formal complaints about health and social care.
Llais complaints advocates do not give medical or social care advice. They do support people to understand and navigate the Putting Things Right complaints process and social care complaints processes.
4) To promote public awareness of what we do. Under the Act, health and social care bodies also have a duty to promote our work with the public.
Are Llais really independent?
Yes. We are an arms-length public body. We will speak up to health boards and local authorities, and those acting on their behalf to represent your voice.
While funded by Welsh government, our activities and work plans are directed by our Board and Chief Executive, based on what we hear from the voices of the people and communities of Wales. Our mission is to speak up for what matters to you.
You can read our plans here, or join our Board meetings to hear more.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to representing the needs of all communities in Wales, ensuring no one is left out. We especially want to hear the voices of those who are under-represented.
Read our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy and Strategic Equality Plan.
If you can help us hear the voices of people who are underrepresented, please get in touch.
Collaborative partnerships
We are pleased to work alongside many organisations across Wales, joining forces to reach as many people as possible about their health and social care experiences.
We want to work together with people, the health and social care sector and the voluntary and community sectors.
Please get in touch if we’re not already working with you and you think we should be.
Good governance
We set out clear plans and priorities with outcomes we can measure to make the most of our resources and to make sure we are open, honest and accountable.
Governance documents
This Framework Document has been developed taking into account the Welsh Government Model Governance Framework for use with public bodies classified to the central government sector for national accounts purposes or classified for administrative purposes as either Welsh Government Sponsored Bodies, Non-Ministerial Departments, Executive Agencies, Estyn, Education Workforce Council, or another public body (except for Welsh Government owned companies) whose remit is set by Welsh Ministers.
The Annual Report and Accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Welsh Government Accounts Direction and the 2022-23 Government Financial Reporting Manual (FreM). The Accounts Direction for 2022/23 included reduced reporting and disclosure requirements reflecting that Llais was not operational in 2022/23.
Welsh Ministers issue remit letters to all Welsh Government Sponsored Bodies (WGSBs), such as Llais. The remit letter sets out the Government’s key policy aims, its expectations on Llais in the year ahead and its budget allocation. Llais has its own individual Framework Document, adapted from a central template. This is the agreement setting out the terms and conditions under which public funding is provided. The Framework Document takes account of the particular circumstances of the individual body, including its primary role and objectives under its governing document and statutory obligations under UK and Welsh legislation. Clear roles and expectations for everyone involved in the sponsorship relationship (including Ministers, Chairs, Boards, Chief Executives, Accounting Officers, sponsorship departments and auditors) are set out in the document.
The Minister for Health and Social Services wrote to the Chair of the Llais Board on 31 March 2023 issuing the remit letter for 2023/2024 and the framework document.
Read the full remit letter
We want everyone living in Wales to know who we are, what we do and the difference we make.
We want our activities and services to be easy to find out about.
We want everyone to be able to access our services and share their views and experiences with us easily, in the way that best meets their individual needs.
Read our full Accessibility Statement
This is statutory guidance for how NHS bodies and local authorities may deal with a representation made to them by Llais.
We will listen to what people have told us and then represent those views, or make representations on matters which have come to its attention by any other route, to those responsible for providing and arranging health and social services.
Representations should help ensure that the voice of citizens and service users is heard alongside that of professionals when making decisions about the development, improvement, change or cessation of health and social care services.
This is guidance for NHS organisations on how they can make changes to health services in Wales. This aims to give NHS organisations guidance and prompts on issues to consider as they approach changes to services.
The Welsh Government asked us what we thought of its document “Code of practice on access to premises and engagement with individuals”. This document says how we should work together with the NHS and local authorities when we visit premises to talk to people about their health and social care services.
We asked for some changes to the document. The Welsh Government thought about what we said, and made some changes.
The Principal Accounting Officer for the Welsh Ministers has delegated to me responsibility for ensuring appropriate Accounting Officer designations are made in relation to Welsh
Government Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) who work in partnership with the Health and Social Services Group of Welsh Government.
We are required to meet certain duties under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 as a public body. Welsh is an official language in Wales and should be treated no less favourably than English.
The Welsh Language Standards 2016 mean that as an organisation and as an employer we have the responsibility of making sure that anyone can speak with us in Welsh and that we continue to encourage use of the Welsh language.
Our Compliance Notice from the Welsh Language Commissioner can be found here:
The Llais Standing Orders, which are set out below, have been made by the Board. These Standing Orders shall, where applicable, be read and interpreted together with the organisation’s statutory powers and functions.
Llais Standing Orders
These Standing Financial Instructions (SFIs) detail the financial
responsibilities which apply to everyone working for Llais. They do not provide detailed procedural advice and should be read in conjunction with the detailed departmental and financial control procedure notes.
Llais Standing Financial Instructions
This Schedule lists the matters that are reserved for decision-making by the Board of Llais. The Board sets the strategy, and provides scrutiny, oversight and governance across all the work of Llais. It holds the executive team and Tîm Arwain (the senior leadership team) to account on delivering the aims, objectives and priorities to meet the requirements set out in the Health and Social Care (Quality and Engagement) (Wales) Act 2020 and the organisation’s wider public duties.