Participatory budgeting (often shortened as PB) is a way for people to directly vote on how local money should be spent.

PB comes in all shapes and size, but normally involves members of the community voting on how to spend part of the budget of a public body, such as a local council.

Participatory budgeting is happening across Scotland and is used alongside other models of community engagement and empowerment.

What we do

Participatory budgeting is a key area of work for us. As part of our programmes we developed PB Scotland, a way for people to come together to share their experiences and learn more about PB. 

We also have a keen interest in different ways of involving people in decision making and see PB as an important tool for increasing wider democratic involvement and community empowerment.