Projects which will improve the public services people receive and reduce the cost to taxpayers have today (28 November 2014) been awarded £89.4 million investment.

Local Government Minister Kris Hopkins announced the names of 73 successful bidders to the Transformation Challenge Award after they set out how they will improve residents’ health, education and job prospects and reduce the demands they put on public services.

The successful bids include:

• supporting young people so they can make a good start in life, including £400,000 for the Kirklees Cares project where children in care are receiving peer support to prepare them for leaving care
• keeping vulnerable and older people safe and well at home, including £1 million for the Light Bulb Project in Leicestershire which will provide residents with a single point of contact for all their housing needs including aids and adaptations, energy advice and home maintenance
• supporting people with mental health problems, including £1.5 million for public bodies in Surrey which are boosting community support and sharing information more effectively for people in crisis
• helping communities take control of the services that matter to them, including £1.4 million for the Durham Ask initiative which supports local volunteers who want to run treasured community centres and libraries
• helping ambitious places overhaul public services so all residents get a better deal, including £12.4 million for Greater Manchester councils to create integrated, community services which will support people back into work, improve the life chances of children and young people, and improve residents’ health

Kris Hopkins said:

The local authorities behind these projects have shown what can be done to improve the services people get, helping them to live independently and reducing demand for public services.

By working with the local police, health bodies, Jobcentre Plus, voluntary groups and others they are eliminating waste and creating services which help people first time – not services which send people from pillar to post to get problems sorted.

All of the bids were submitted by partnerships which set out how they would work together to eliminate duplicate services and provide more coherent support for people.

In total, the 73 successful bids involve 287 partners including 122 local authorities and 165 other organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Further information

View an interactive map of the 2015 to 2016 Transformation Challenge Award winners and read the full list of winners:

Table of successful bids
(PDF, 300KB, 8 pages)

The £89.4 million will be shared between 71 of the winners. Two further winners have been offered capital flexibility allowing them to spend the proceeds of asset sales for revenue purposes:

Table of successful bids for Capital Receipt Flex
(PDF, 125KB, 1 page)