Roles, Responsibilities and Membership of the Integration Joint Board Guidance and advice to supplement the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Integration Joint Board) (Scotland) Order 2014 and Amendment Order 2025

The Aim of This Guidance

This guidance is intended for use by all members of an Integration Joint Board (IJB), particularly the Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Standards Officers. It provides advice on best practice and supplements the existing legislative framework. The document focuses on the roles, responsibilities and membership of the IJB, setting out principles to support effective and consistent governance.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Integration Joint Boards) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2025 (“the 2025 Order”) requires IJBs to extend voting rights to members with certain types of lived experience, such as service users, unpaid carers and third sector representatives, from 1 September 2026. Further information on the 2025 Order can be found in Section 1.1.

Section 53 of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 ("the Act") requires an IJB to have regard to this guidance produced by Scottish Ministers on the exercising of its functions under or in relation to the Act. This guidance is produced under section 53 and relates to IJBs established under the body corporate model of integration under section 1(4)(a) of the Act.

For the purposes of this guidance, the term ‘Lived Experience Representative’ is used to collectively refer to the category members newly granted voting rights through the 2025 Order, namely:

• service users;
• unpaid carers; and
• third sector representatives.

These roles may, in some local contexts, be known as ‘Public Partners’.