Changing Futures
Documents relating to the Changing Futures programme.
About the programme
Changing Futures is a 4-year, £77 million programme aiming to improve outcomes for adults experiencing multiple disadvantage – including combinations of homelessness, substance misuse, mental health issues, domestic abuse and contact with the criminal justice system.
The programme is funded through £55.4 million from the government’s Shared Outcomes Fund with £21.6 million in aligned funding from the National Lottery Community Fund – the largest funder of community activity in the UK.
Working with 15 local partnerships across England, Changing Futures is testing new ways of bringing together public and community sector partners to help people change their lives for the better.
The programme was announced in 2020, began work in local areas in July 2021 and will continue until the end of March 2025. It aims to deliver improvements at the individual, service and system level:
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to stabilise and then improve the life situation of adults who face multiple disadvantage
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to transform local services to provide a person-centred approach and to reduce crisis demand
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to test a different approach to funding, accountability and engagement between local commissioners and services, and between central government and local areas
The programme will be accompanied by a robust evaluation, building the evidence base to underpin future work to support people facing multiple disadvantage.
The programme is being delivered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on behalf of government, working alongside all relevant departments and the National Lottery Community Fund.
Where we work
Changing Futures works in the following areas:
- Bristol
- Essex
- Greater Manchester
- Kingston upon Hull
- Lancashire (including Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen)
- Leicester
- Nottingham
- Northumbria (Northumberland, Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland)
- Plymouth
- Sheffield
- South Tees (Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland)
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Surrey
- Sussex (East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton)
- Westminster
Programme principles
Local areas have developed their own delivery models which adhere to the following programme principles:
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work in partnership across local services and the voluntary and community sector, building strong cross-sector partnerships at a strategic and operational level that can design and implement an improved approach to tackling multiple disadvantage
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coordinate support, and better integrate local services to enable a ‘whole person’ approach
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create flexibility in how local services respond to the people who use them, taking a system-wide view with shared accountability and ownership leading to better services and a ‘no wrong door’ approach to support
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involve people with lived experience of multiple disadvantage in the design, delivery and evaluation of services and in governance and decision making
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take a trauma-informed approach across the local system, services and in the governance of the programme
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commit to drive lasting system-change, with sustainable changes to benefit people experiencing multiple disadvantage beyond the lifetime of the funding
Find out more
If you’d like to find out more about Changing Futures and speak to the team, please email [email protected].