Government Steps Up Campaign To Tackle Social Exclusion

The Government has announced the next steps in its programme to tackle social exclusion, supporting twelve new projects to help the most chronically excluded adults in society. Since the launch of the Social Exclusion Action Plan in September last year the government has argued that specific approaches are needed to tackle social exclusion.

Established and successful policies to tackle wider poverty such as the minimum wage, the New Deals and tax credits have helped the majority move from welfare into work. However, figures from the charity, ‘Revolving Doors’ show there are approximately 66,000 adults in the UK facing multiple and complex issues that require specialised interventions and support.

Though a minority of the population, they often lead lives damaging to themselves and in some cases to those around them. In addition they can cost thousands of pounds in service provision because they bounce from service to service, often not receiving the tailored help they need.

The multiple problems they face can cross several agencies at one time and can involve issues such as childhood abuse, addictions mental health problems and homelessness. Consequently, this minority can slip through the net.

This announcement is part of the Government’s birth to adult approach to social exclusion and comes only a few months after an early intervention programme aimed at the early months and years of children’s lives was introduced. ‘Family Nurse Partnerships’ are already underway, supporting the most vulnerable young mums–to–be and their babies.

Social Exclusion Minister Pat McFadden is visiting the charity Thames Reach today in London, one of the schemes taking part in this 3–year programme. He believes it’s time for a new approach to helping such vulnerable individuals. He said: “When adults experience such extreme difficulties in their own lives, there is a huge impact on them, services and everyone around them.

“Sometimes the individual services do a perfectly good job dealing with the specific issues, but the piece that’s missing is someone to look at the person’s problems in the round. Dealing with these multiple issues service by service can be a bit like looking at a series of snapshots instead of at the whole film.

“We need to ensure the systems in place to help people are working together better. The Pilot projects we are supporting today are designed to help people get their lives on a more positive track.”

Jeremy Swain, Chief Executive of Thames Reach, said: “We are impressed at the Government’s commitment to not giving up on the most excluded people in our society and delighted to have the opportunity of working in partnership with the Social Exclusion Task Force to rebuild shattered lives.”

Adults facing Chronic Exclusion will often experience:

  • Poor health prospects – mental and/or physical health issues
  • A history of exclusion, institutionalisation or abuse
  • Behaviour and control difficulties
  • Skills deficit – unemployment and poor educational achievement
  • Addictions

A total of £6million will be shared between the 12 successful projects over the next three years. Innovations from these projects selected by Cabinet Office include offering outreach services to support rough sleepers and long term unemployed as well as employing staff who are former service users to run the projects.

The announcement today is the next step in a series of actions to come out of the Social Exclusion Action Plan launched last year. Also published today is the first part of a major review into families at risk, announced by Cabinet Minister for Social Exclusion Hilary Armstrong in March.

It will clearly show the dramatic impact that parent–based family circumstances have on the outcomes and life–chances of children, and demands a more family–focused approach from agencies that work with adults and those that work with children.

The cost of not tackling social exclusion is highlighted in writer Malcolm Gladwell’s “Million Dollar Murray” which describes the financial cost of not acting to find solutions to chronically excluded adults problems.