Supporting the Prime Minister to catalyse community-led change

Last week, the Foundation’s Chief Executive Matt Hyde attended the Civil Society Council which took place in Manchester and was attended by the Prime Minister.  A focus of this meeting was the vital role that communities can play in shaping the outcomes for their local people.   

There are clear parallels between the work of the Foundation and the community-led projects previously fostered by the Prime Minister in his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester, including the Live Well initiative [link]. Live Well is a fantastic example of how civil society and health bodies can work in partnership to reduce health, social and economic inequalities and help local people thrive.   

As a Foundation, we have always believed that our communities have the answers, but this can only be achieved when they have the connections, resources and power that allow them to effect change.  Inspired by the success of Live Well, and others leading pioneering work on neighbourhood health, Lloyds Bank Foundation is committing £250,000 to develop the principles, tools and roadmap needed to support future scaling of a community-led approach to health across the country.  To achieve this, we will work in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, the King’s Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund. 

Matt Hyde says “We know that the Prime Minister has seen firsthand the benefits of backing local people to drive change and decide what their community needs to be in a good place. We’re excited to see where this partnership could lead and what it will mean when we put community-led organisations at the heart of improving public services in the future.” 

The Foundation’s ambition for this partnership is to provide the leading examples of how the right approaches and investment can connect and catalyse community-led change, and support with the evidence needed for a shift in power and resources to flow back into local communities.