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Adults on the ThamesReach team building exercise in Wales

For the past 12 months, the small but highly effective Social Exclusion Task Force has been influencing government departments and local service providers to drive forward the agreement, which took effect from April 2008.

Adults facing chronic exclusion will often experience problems such as behavioural difficulties, a history of the care system or periods of time in prison. Because they have multiple needs, they may cross several agencies at once, meaning they can bounce from service to service without receiving the tailored help that they need. Accessing the right services at the right time can prevent considerable obstacles to themselves and their families, as well as keeping down the cost to the wider community.

The focus of the PSA is on four client groups who are especially vulnerable to multiple forms of disadvantage, and who may be negotiating difficult life situations involving leaving prison or long-term care:

The four groups are:

• young people leaving care;
• adult offenders on probation;
• adults with mental health problems; and
• adults with moderate to severe learning difficulties.

“This is an issue which requires extensive engagement across central and local government, as well as with external stakeholders,”

says Naomi Eisenstadt, Director of the Social Exclusion Task Force.

“The Cabinet Office is powerfully placed to coordinate the action. While the Social Exclusion Task Force does not have a service delivery role, it does have a key role in bringing together and influencing those responsible for delivery, both across Whitehall, and in local areas.

“The challenge is to bring together the departments responsible for the key services that will solve the problems: the Department for Work and Pensions [External website] for jobs; Communities and Local Government [External website] for homes; Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills [External website] for the training that will get people into employment; and the departments that have responsibility for the overall wellbeing of our four client groups: Health, Ministry of Justice [External website], and Department for Children, Schools and Families

“Within the Cabinet Office, we work closely with the Office of the Third Sector, which covers charities and voluntary organisations, and with the Strategy Unit, which support us in problem analysis. Indeed, our strength lies in the combination of our intensive contact with frontline service users, provider organisations, and our rigorous analysis of problems and solutions.”

Gus O'Donnell at the ThamesReach project visit in Catford

ACE pilots help put lives back on track

September 2007 saw the launch of the ACE (adults facing chronic exclusion) pilot programme, a cross-government initiative designed to tackle social exclusion among society's most marginalised people. The Cabinet Office is leading the programme in partnership with voluntary and community organisations, local authorities and health authorities across the country.

The 12 projects selected for the pilot cover a range of voluntary, public and private sector organisations, dealing with issues as diverse as domestic violence, autism and sleeping rough. The Home Office [External website], Communities and Local Government, Health and Work and Pensions are providing sponsorship of £6 million over three years to cover all 12 pilots.

A national evaluation process will draw lessons from the effectiveness of different approaches.

One of the pilots, based at Pilot at ThamesReach in London, is working to get deeply excluded adults back on the road to sustainable employment. Jeremy Swain, Chief Executive of ThamesReach, says that one of the most exciting things about the project was that four fifths of the homeless people the organisation supports actively wanted to get back into work.

“We give a lot of emphasis to practical skills and a crucial part of the course is a three-day team building exercise in Wales. We also give people financial incentives. One of our participants wanted to become a locksmith, so we gave him the money for a short course to learn the trade.

“We give participants all the help we can in managing the transition to work, which can be tricky after a long period of unemployment.”