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Since the early 1980s the concept of Participatory Budgeting (PB) has developed in various forms internationally and subsequently has been adopted and adapted into local policy and political contexts. Yet, the underlying objective of PB remains the same, to empower local communities to have a direct say in how and where public funds can be used to shape public services and their delivery (Gomez et al., 2016).In seeking to integrate community participation into local resource allocation decision-making, via this policy, requires a transformation of the relationship between citizen and state. In the implementation and delivery of PB, local government must engage in equality analysis so to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). Thereby, this paper aims to combine the framing of mainstreaming equalities through the PSED in the development of PB activities.This article contends that the institutional engagement and analysis required, to effectively integrate the requirements of equality legislation into PB processes, requires a transformational approach. Equality processes appear to exist in parallel with PB activity rather than being operationalized as integral to the objectives and character of PB activity at local level. This article proposes that PB and the PSED share a transformative intent and potential but that this is undermined by siloed thinking on equalities reflective of compliance and enduring discriminatory behavior and practices. The paper concludes with propositions for extending the conceptual links between equality and community empowerment, and thereby participation in local financial decision making in practice.

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