13,050* people. Every one active. Matched to the condition.
Our panel runs on Equity Engine (opens in a new tab), our member platform, owned and run by Unwritten Health.
Active, not registered
Every one of our 13,050* members has answered something in the last three months. We count activity, not sign-ups: someone who registered and went quiet isn't in that number.
*As of October 2026.
Where they came from: we started building the panel in March 2026 through Equity Engine (opens in a new tab), our community platform, recruiting online and through community partners, with a head start from the community work behind our founder's previous company. Members are paid for their time from their first survey, at the rates below, so nobody is asked to give their time for free.
Simple questions come back in hours. Complex ones in days.
Matched to who has the condition
For each condition, we recruit to match who has it, using published data on the condition, rather than taking whoever turns up and adjusting the numbers afterwards. Here's the panel today, condition by condition.
Panel members by condition
| Condition | Members | Female | Asian | Black | Mixed or other | Most deprived fifth of areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Depression | 2,400 | 64% | 5% | 3% | 2% | 23% |
| Type 2 diabetes | 1,900 | 44% | 16% | 5% | 3% | 24% |
| Asthma | 1,800 | 53% | 8% | 3% | 3% | 19% |
| COPD | 1,400 | 47% | 6% | 3% | 6% | 27% |
| Obesity | 1,400 | 52% | 6% | 6% | 4% | 26% |
| Eczema | 1,200 | 59% | 11% | 3% | 2% | 16% |
| Psoriasis | 900 | 51% | 5% | 1% | 1% | 18% |
| Breast cancer | 700 | 99% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 30% |
| Bipolar disorder | 650 | 59% | 6% | 4% | 3% | 25% |
| Prostate cancer | 400 | 0% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 39% |
| Lung cancer | 300 | 51% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 39% |
Counted September 2026. Each member is counted once, under the main condition they told us about. Deprivation is worked out from members' postcodes using the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Other conditions are held in smaller numbers or built to order.
Where we're short. The type 2 diabetes, obesity and COPD panels are close to who has the condition. The cancer panels and depression are not there yet: Black men are about twice as likely to get prostate cancer as white men, and our prostate cancer panel is 3% Black; depression is 5% Asian and 3% Black, below the population, never mind the condition. We're recruiting to close those gaps and will update this table as we do. If your work is in one of those conditions, the free panel check tells you exactly who we hold today.
Sources: Prostate Cancer UK, Black men and prostate cancer risk; ONS, Census 2021.
What we know about each member
Their condition, in their own words, and qualifying questions about it. Their experience of it: treatment, and how it affects daily life. And their background:
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Sex
- Sexuality
- Age
- Other conditions they live with
- Household income
- Deprivation (from their postcode)
- Rural or urban (from the first part of the postcode)
- Education
- First language
What we don't claim
- Conditions are self-declared, with qualifying questions. If you need a stricter screen, we'll screen to your criteria.
- Members chose to join. The panel is matched to the breakdown of each condition, but it doesn't represent every person with that condition.
- We don't currently hold disability, skin tone, dexterity or device experience as standing fields. We can screen for them on request.
How members are paid
Members are paid for their time at the rate the National Institute for Health and Care Research recommends for public involvement: £27.50 an hour, worked out for the time a task takes and rounded up to the nearest 50p.
| Task | Members earn |
|---|---|
| Icebreaker question | £1 |
| Profile survey, 5 minutes | £2.50 |
| Pulse survey, 10 minutes | £5 |
| Longer survey, 20 minutes | £9.50 |
| On-screen review, 30 to 60 minutes | £14 to £27.50 |
| Video diary | £10 |
| Voice note | By length, at £27.50 an hour |
| Interview or group, 60 minutes | £27.50 |
Members earn points (100 points is £1) and swap them for e-vouchers from £5, including a supermarket option.
The rules we keep:
- Members are paid for their time, never for their answers.
- Members are never paid to join a clinical trial.
- Members see what a task pays before they start it.
- Points don't expire while a member is active.
- We only hold back points where there's clear evidence of fraud.
- No member earns more than £1,000 in a tax year.
- Members are 18 or over.
- Clients never pay members directly and never learn who they are. We never sell members' data.
Members sign a confidentiality agreement when they join and are trained to understand they're reviewing material they don't own. After every piece of work, they get a short summary of what changed because of them.
Source: NIHR payment rates for public involvement, updated 16 December 2025.