Lancashire Changing Futures

The Changing Futures programme is a £91.8 million funding programme, launched in 2020 and funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) and The National Lottery Community Fund. The joint initiative supports the public sector and local organisations to work in partnership to better support those who experience multiple disadvantage including:

1Homelessness

We don’t only support people who are street homeless. We also focus our support on people who are sofa-surfing or are residing with people in short-term (and sometimes exploitative) relationships as well as people who are in temporary accommodation or who are at risk of becoming homeless.

2Substance Misuse

We work with a wide variety of people with substance misuse problems relating to alcohol, illicit substances (especially crack, cocaine, heroin and cannabis) as well as people who are reliant of scripted medication to treat their addiction problems.

3Mental Health issues

Most, but not necessarily all of the referrals to our programme will have some kind of identified underlying mental health problems. These can include depression, anxiety disorders, suicide ideation, self-harm as well as more complex conditions such as schizophrenia, PTSD, bipolar disorder and personality disorders. These will not necessarily have been diagnosed prior to referral.

4Domestic abuse

We work with and support the perpetrators of domestic abuse as well as victims in order to facilitate safer relationships between people and families.

5Contact with the criminal justice system

This could include people about to be released from prison, people who are currently engaged with probation service, people who have a history of offending behaviour, people who have previously been in prison, or people who have only recently come to the attention of the police for recent offending.

Model of Care

Changing Futures Referral Process

Before referring anyone to the Changing Futures programme you need to ensure that they consent to have their personal details shared between the different agencies and support services they have had contact with. (Information sharing is a key aspect of the way we work in order to ensure that a beneficiary does not have to relive trauma or feel stigma when giving information to the different agencies supporting them).

We ask you to give as much detail as possible when completing the referral form.

Once the referral form has been completed you or a colleague from your organisation will be invited to attend the next scheduled multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meeting over Microsoft Teams. The MDT is a panel of people from the key local services which support people who face multiple disadvantage such as the NHS, probation services, local council housing teams, CGL/Inspire (drug and alcohol support service), DWP, police and lived experience support teams. These meetings take place on a weekly basis and are where each referral is discussed in detail. The panel will make a decision as a team about whether or not to accept the referral onto the programme. If a person is not accepted on the programme alternative referral routes (to other services) will be discussed instead. You will find more information and the referral form links on the locality pages below

Aims of the Changing Futures Programme:

Support individuals who face multiple disadvantages: by stabilising and supporting collective improvement to their lives  
For local services: to provide a person-centred approach and help reduce demand on crisis services
The wider system: trying new funding and engagement approaches. This includes local commissioners, organisations, central government and local areas

1North

Towns Covered: Lancaster, Morecambe

2Blackpool

Towns Covered: Blackpool

3Central/West/Pennine

Towns Covered: Preston, Skelmersdale, Chorley, Preston, Burnley, Hyndburn, Fleetwood, St Annes

4Blackburn

Towns Covered: Blackburn