WIREDGOV

The BIG Lottery Fund (BIG) announced today that a West Yorkshire partnership is now on its way to receiving up to £10 million to support people with multiple problems like homelessness, mental ill health, addiction and reoffending.

BIG is awarding £160,000 to the partnership led by Developing Initiatives for Support in the Community (DISC) to help submit business plans on how they will improve and better coordinate services to tackle the needs of people living chaotic lives in order to receive up to £10m. Eleven other successful partnerships across England are also on the verge of receiving a share of the £100m investment.

With problem drug users alone each costing government and society around £46,000 a year, BIG’s £100m investment which aims to help thousands of people, could save the public purse hundreds of millions of pounds.

BIG’s investment, backed by Jon Snow, Mitch Winehouse and Russell Brand, has brought together organisations and bodies that tackle these issues to improve the stability, confidence and capability of people with multiple and complex needs to lead better lives so they spend less time in prison, reduce their drug abuse, are in stable accommodation and have better mental health.

The West Yorkshire partnership has provided research which suggests there are high levels of individual needs relating to housing, substance misuse, mental health and offending. There are likely to be between 2,000 and 3,000 people with three or more multiple and complex needs in the region, with around 45% having ineffective contact with the services they need.

Leeds and Wakefield have issues around offending (2.6% & 1.6% above the England average); Bradford around alcohol (35% above England average for hospital stays), Bradford and Wakefield around drug misuse (57% & 30% above England average), Leeds around mental health (contacts are 3% above England average). All areas apart from Calderdale have rough sleeping figures above the regional average.

The partnership will help people access the services they need, build their resilience, gain confidence and acquire the personal and social assets they need to meet their aspirations.

Mark Weeding, Chief Executive of DISC, said: “This grant will enable our partnership to help many of those people whose complex and multiple problems prevent them from living the fulfilled and normal lives that they dream about.

“West Yorkshire is a fascinating mix of rural and metropolitan communities from many different cultures. This isn’t a simple problem but if we can prevent people falling through the net of services we will have a major impact on both their lives and the communities in which they live.

“Poor health, addiction, low level crime, anti-social behaviour and sleeping rough are activities which benefit nobody. It creates a vicious circle for the individual within which they rapidly deteriorate and in turn this affects the cities and towns in which they live. People who come through this programme will in turn become volunteers and staff and in so doing build their confidence and self-belief and give something back to the communities in which they live.”

Alison Rowe, Big Lottery Fund England Head of Communications, said: “There are countless statistics demonstrating a need to help people with multiple and complex needs – for example the NHS Confederation found that 70 per cent of prisoners suffer from a mental illness and a substance abuse problem.

“Imagine a world where service delivery gives individuals the power to turn their lives around – our ultimate goal is to use the learning gleaned from this investment to shift policy thinking so that individuals become assets rather than just a drain on society.’

Jon Snow, Channel 4 News Presenter and Chair of the New Horizon Youth Centre, said: “I have worked for some four decades in a project that works with vulnerable and homeless young people and I have rarely ever come across funding targeted directly at supporting people of any age with multiple and complex needs.

“That’s why I am so excited by the Big Lottery Fund’s radically new approach to put £100 million behind bringing the assorted services together behind this needy but difficult group of people.

“I believe this initiative is going to make life changing differences to the lives of very many people previously regarded as on the margins of society. I’m particularly attracted to the way the Big Lottery Fund has engaged the client groups themselves in designing services.

“In austere and difficult times, the Big Lottery Fund is laying the foundations toward making a profound difference. I’m honoured to support their endeavour.”

Mitch Winehouse, who alongside family members established The Amy Winehouse Foundation, said: “Since losing Amy I have been supporting charities that help people who are struggling with an addiction or health issue. I’ve been involved with Big Lottery Fund since the start of this investment and I’m very excited that successful partnerships are now on the verge of receiving up to £10 million to start helping people with serious and complex problems. This money will bring different organisations together to offer people more tailored support to deal with all the different needs that they may have.”

Russell Brand said: "The BIG Lottery Fund is investing 100m in people with complex needs - this means alcoholics, homeless folk, mentally ill people and drug addicts. They will be devising a strategy in collaboration with the beneficiaries - this is a unique and outstanding initiative that will significantly advance our society. The BIG Lottery Fund has a simple solution to complex needs - now I might buy a bloody ticket!"

Over the eight-year investment, BIG will track the success of the partnerships and gather evidence that will shed light on more effective and efficient ways of organising and delivering services including tracking the savings and benefits to the wider community as well as to the individuals who are supported. BIG will use this learning to improve practice amongst the projects it funds, to influence future policy and practice and encourage the continuation of successful interventions.

Case Study: Steven Ellis, Leeds

Former heroin addict Steven Ellis, 37, from Hunslet, Leeds, was in and out of prison for about 14 years. He decided to quit drugs after being jailed in 2008 for theft and burglary and developed a passion for art during the two years he spent at HMP Everthorpe, near Hull. After release from jail he took a course at Leeds College of Art and is now doing a degree in fine art. Having realised the therapeutic benefits art could have for people with addictions, he started running weekly sessions at DISC. Steven received a Butler Trust Award for outstanding work in criminal justice by Princess Anne in March.

He said: “I became addicted to heroin at 20 and it took me until the age of 35 to beat it. I found my way out. I started studying art in prison and getting some qualifications. My worst fear happened. My fear was that when I came out of prison I’d end up in a bail hostel with people using heroin. I had curfews so I was locked up with people who were using but I maintained my abstinence. There was a genuine fear though. It’s hard for a man with bravado to walk into an agency or service provider and say ‘I haven’t the strength to maintain my abstinence on my own and I need your help’. When I went to DISC I was offered the mental and emotional support I needed. Trying to rebuild your life from scratch is quite a challenge while recovering from an addiction.

“I help other people now. I’ve become a mentor and run an art recovery group and create strong links with the prison service so when people are released they are not lost in a shot.”

A photo is available of Steven. Contact 020 7211 3709.

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

Notes to Editors

There are an estimated 60,000 adults in England with multiple needs who are beset by several problems at once and lack effective contact with services that support across all their needs. - Making Every Adult Matter (2009).

An estimate of direct annual expenditure on an ‘average’ adult with multiple needs in 2006 was around £23,000. David Halpern, Social exclusion: bringing opportunity for all,
Presentation at Chequers, 29th August, 2006.

Home Office research has suggested a problem drug user costs the government £10,400 a year in reactive expenditure and in social costs around £35,450.

Department of Health figures suggest it is four times more expensive for hospitals to care for homeless people.

St Mungos homeless service found 69% of their hostel clients who were former rough sleepers had some form of mental health problem.

• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £6bn.
• The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £29 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.