Practical tools

PEP Capabilities Framework

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Framework Overview
Who is the framework for?
How to Use the Framework
Explore the framework
Download the framework & workbook

The Public Engagement Professional (PEP) Capabilities Framework is designed to help you recognise and develop the skills, knowledge and practices that support effective public engagement.

Whether you are reflecting on your own professional development or assessing the strengths of a team, the framework provides practical tools to help you identify what you're doing well, uncover areas for growth, and plan your next steps with confidence.

The following webpages provide a condensed version of the framework. The full framework can be downloaded in Word or PDF format at the bottom of this page.

updated on 08 Sep 2026

3 minutes read

Framework Overview

Through a series of personas, capability matrices and reflection tools, the framework helps individuals identify their strengths, recognise areas for development and plan their professional growth. For managers, it offers a practical resource for understanding team capabilities, identifying development needs and building a balanced, resilient and effective public engagement function.

The framework is organised into three parts

Part 1: Personas and Attributes

The personas describe the different ‘hats’ you wear as a PEP and how they might play out in your day to day role.
The attributes describe at the traits that underpin being a public engagement professional.

Part 2: Exploring and Assessing Capabilities

Specifies the knowledge, skills and practices that help you deliver engagement.
Provides a breakdown of each skill onto a competency matrix that allows you to self assess your/your teams strengths, development needs and areas for future growth.
Option to track your skills on a spider diagram.

Part 3: Next steps and development

Guides you through writing a development plan for yourself / your team.
Useful links to resources for further learning.

Who is the framework for?

The framework has been designed for anyone involved in supporting, delivering or leading public engagement activity.

Below are two examples of user types who might employ the framework for different purposes.

Individual Public Engagement Professionals

Can use the framework to:

Reflect on their current strengths and areas of expertise
Identify opportunities for professional development
Plan learning and career progression
Recognise capabilities that may not be formally acknowledged in their role
Articulate the value and breadth of their work

Managers and leaders of engagement teams

Can use the framework to:

Understand the collective strengths of a team
Identify capability gaps and development priorities
Support meaningful development conversations
Inform recruitment and workforce planning
Build balanced teams with complementary skills and expertise
Strengthen organisational capacity for public engagement

How to Use the Framework

The framework is intended to be flexible and can be used in a variety of ways depending on your needs. Below is a general step by step guide to follow when working through the framework.

Step 1: explore the different hats you wear

Consider each of the personas and attributes, identifying which ones you align with and why.

Step 2: explore and assess your capabilities

Work through the skills matrices gathering examples from your own work. Analyse where your skills land on the maturity scale - foundation, practitioner, lead and strategic.

Step 3: plan your development

Now that you have a deeper understanding of your skills profile, you can use the template to write a development plan. Find resources to help you meet your goals.

Optional: complete the accompanying workbook

Alongside the framework, we have created an optional workbook which will provides additional reflective questions and exercises to help you get the most out of the capabilities framework.

Explore the framework

Select different parts of the framework to work through below. Each link will take you to a new page, where you can work on one element. We advise that you work through it chronologically, starting with 1.1. However you may want to drop in and out of different sections.

Please find the plain text word document and worksheet at the bottom of this page.

Part 1: Personas and Attributes

1.1: Personas

Personas provide a way of understanding the different roles that public engagement professionals often play in their work.

1.2: Attributes

Attributes are the personal qualities and behaviours that underpin effective PEP practices.

Part 2: Exploring and Assessing Public Engagement Professional Capabilities

2.1: Key areas of skills, knowledge and practices

Identify the knowledge, skills and practices that underpin effective public engagement practice.

2.2: Maturity Matrix

Assess your current level of understanding and skill. Discover areas for development.

2.3: Mapping your results

Visually represent your findings on a spider diagram.

Part 3: Next Steps & Development Plan

3.1: Writing a development plan

Use this template to turn your reflections from the personas, attributes, capabilities and maturity matrices into a practical development plan.

3.2: Finding resources

Find useful resources to develop your skills.

Download the framework & workbook