Lived Expert

What Lived Expert does

Lived Expert Ltd is a Certified Social Enterprise incorporated in England and Wales, founded in 2004 by Mark Johnson — a former prisoner and person in recovery — to integrate lived experience into health and justice policy and service delivery. The organisation operates as a participatory action research consultancy, employing and engaging approximately 500 people with direct experience of poverty, crime, addiction, mental health, neurodiversity, and homelessness. Its core methodology involves training peer researchers from affected communities to co-produce research alongside academic and policy partners, exemplified by the largest known international peer research project on prisoners' experience of COVID-19, which covered 11 prisons, 100 peer researchers, and 1,400 prisoners.

The organisation's commercial offering consists of commissioned research, published reports, and advisory services delivered to policymakers, commissioners, and service providers in the United Kingdom and Australia. Notable outputs include the 'Just Existing?' report on opiate addiction in prison (March 2025) and the 'Spice: the bird killer' report on synthetic cannabinoid use in prisons. Named clients and partners include HM Prison & Probation Service, NHS England, the Lloyds Bank Foundation (via an advisory appointment), and academic collaborators such as Professor Shadd Maruna. The organisation publishes peer-reviewed work in journals including the Prison Service Journal and maintains earned media presence through the founder's broadcast appearances.

Revenue is generated through research contracts, grants, and consulting engagements with UK and Australian public-sector bodies. The firm has 5 direct employees per firmographic data (with the broader 500-strong lived-experience workforce functioning as peer researchers and participants rather than conventional salaried staff). No external institutional investment, funding rounds, or technology products have been disclosed, and the business operates as a values-led, mission-driven consultancy without software offerings, APIs, or AI/ML capabilities.

Name

Lived Expert

Legal name

Lived Expert Ltd

Website

https://livedexpert.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Lived Expert Ltd is a Certified Social Enterprise that conducts participatory action research and advisory work, integrating the voices of people with lived experience of poverty, crime, addiction, mental health, neurodiversity, and homelessness into health and justice policy for UK and Australian public-sector clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Research and Advisory Services: Lived Expert conducts commissioned research, publishes reports, and provides advisory services to policymakers, commissioners, and providers seeking to integrate lived experience into their work. Revenue is generated through research contracts, grants, and consulting engagements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Lived Expert is a certified social enterprise that conducts participatory action research and provides advisory services to help policymakers, commissioners, and service providers in the UK and Australia integrate lived experience into health and justice policy and service delivery. The organisation employs 500 people with experience of poverty, crime, addiction, mental health, neurodiversity, and homelessness, and has given voice to 250,000 people over two decades through commissioned research, published reports, and co-produced studies.

Product overview

Lived Expert Ltd is a social enterprise (Certified Social Enterprise) focused on integrating lived experience into health and justice policy and services. The organization is not a technology product company but rather a consultancy and research organization. They conduct participatory action research, produce reports on issues affecting prisoners and those with lived experience (such as drug addiction, mental health, neurodiversity in criminal justice), and provide advisory services to policy makers, commissioners, and providers in the UK and Australia. Their offerings include collaborative research projects with academic institutions, published reports (such as the 'Just Existing?' report on opiate addiction in prison and the 'Spice: the bird killer' report), media advocacy, and advisory group participation. No discrete software products, digital platforms, or technology modules were identified in the provided source material.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Participatory Action Research Services Commissioned participatory action research studies that involve peer researchers with direct lived experience of the issues under study, delivering rigorous co-produced evidence to public sector and charitable clients in health and justice. Includes the largest known international peer research project on prisoners' experience of COVID, involving 11 prisons, 100 prisoner peer researchers, and 1,400 prisoners.
• Policy Advisory Services Advisory engagements that help policymakers, commissioners, and service providers in the UK and Australia integrate authentic lived experience into health and justice policy development, service commissioning, and programme design.
• Published Research Reports Commissioned research reports published on issues affecting prisoners and people with lived experience, including the "Just Existing?" report on opiate addiction in prison and the "Spice: the bird killer" report on prison drug use.

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Lloyds Bank FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 January 2024Founder Mark Johnson appointed to Lloyds Bank Foundation Research Advisory Group into the value of organisations led by-and-for people with lived experience. This represents formal recognition of Lived Expert's expertise in lived experience integration.
• Professor Shadd MarunacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative research partnership on participatory action research methodology. Co-authored publication in Prison Service Journal on collaborative research during the pandemic.
• Crime and JusticeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic journal partner publishing research on prison conditions and lived experience.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Mind (UK): Large UK mental health charity providing services, information, and policy advocacy. Comparable as a buyer/supplier of mental-health research and lived-experience input to NHS England, but much larger and broader in scope than Lived Expert.

Others

• Social Enterprise UK: UK membership body representing social enterprises, including the Certified Social Enterprise scheme under which Lived Expert is accredited. Comparable as the certification and policy-voice body for the same legal form Lived Expert operates under.
• Clinks: UK infrastructure body supporting voluntary-sector organizations working in criminal justice. Comparable as an ecosystem partner that Lived Expert would interact with in the same policy and funding environment, though Clinks is an enabler rather than a direct research provider.

Direct peers

• Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM): UK coalition focused on adults facing multiple disadvantage including homelessness, substance use, mental ill-health, and contact with the criminal justice system. Comparable as an organization bridging research, lived experience, and local-system change across health and justice.
• Revolving Doors Agency: UK charity working with people in repeated contact with the criminal justice system, often with coexisting mental health, substance use, and homelessness issues. Comparable as a lived-experience-led organization conducting research and influencing policy in overlapping health-and-justice domains.
• User Voice: UK charity that engages prisoners and ex-prisoners in criminal justice policy research. Highly comparable as a lived-experience-led research and advocacy organization operating in the same prison and justice-policy space as Lived Expert.
• Centre for Mental Health: UK mental health research and policy charity producing evidence used by government and NHS commissioners. Comparable as a research-and-advisory organization that influences mental-health policy and service commissioning, the same buyer base Lived Expert serves.
• Peer Power: UK charity led by people with lived experience of the youth justice system. Comparable as a lived-experience-led advocacy and research organization working at the intersection of justice, mental health, and social policy.
• The Howard League for Penal Reform: UK penal reform charity that combines research, advocacy, and practitioner engagement to influence prison policy. Comparable as a research-driven criminal-justice reform organization working alongside public-sector bodies, though broader in scope and not exclusively lived-experience-led.

Emerging players

• Pathway: UK healthcare charity that improves outcomes for homeless people through research, advocacy, and NHS service-design partnerships. Comparable in blending lived experience with NHS-facing research and policy work, but with a narrower homeless-health focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lived-expert

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lived Expert