Empowerment in Stoke-on-Trent

1. Organisations involved

1.1 VOICES: Voice of Independence, Changes and Empowerment in Stoke-on-Trent

VOICES is a partnership project delivered by an operational team that coordinates a range of services and stakeholders around people with multiple needs. It aims to empower people with multiple needs to change their lives and to infl uence services. Part of its mission is to change systems through casework and assertive advocacy to help people access appropriate services. Even within the partnership this is not always easy. Work is required to understand the drivers behind these barriers, which may be, for example, skillsbased, culturally constructed, or process driven. Central to all the work undertaken are the voices of those with lived experience. The Expert Citizens supported by VOICES have formed their own Community Interest Company and are central to the progress of change in the city and the legacy of the VOICES project. VOICES customers are people whose lives have been seriously aff ected by events and conditions over a prolonged period. They may present frequently at emergency health care facilities, drug and alcohol services, homelessness services or mental health services. Some are well known to ‘blue light’ services such as the fi re, police, and ambulance services. Labels such as ‘chaotic’, ‘hard to reach’, or ‘frequent fl yer’ may have been applied to VOICES customers by some services. There may also have been specifi c exclusions from services in the past. Some VOICES customers even feel that services have given up on them. VOICES was made possible by the National Lottery Community Fund through ‘Fulfi lling Lives: Supporting people with multiple needs’. Stoke-on-Trent was one of 12 areas to share £112m over eight years to test alternative approaches to tackling multiple needs. The VOICES partnership is funded until March 2022. As part of an overall ‘Legacy evaluation’, this third and fi nal Hard Edges report presents data for the overall cohort (up to the end of 2020).

Stoke-on-Trent

was one of 12 areas to share £112m

over eight years to test alternative approaches to tackling multiple needs