Supporting families and communities
| Overarching communication objective: Promote the support and schemes offered by Government to improve individual, social and community wellbeing. Campaign key performance indicators (KPIs): • Increase take-up of government support, including Pension Credit, Child Trust Funds, Marriage Allowance and help with childcare costs. • Improve quality of reporting to StreetLink to create more referrals and more meaningful outcomes for homeless people, rough sleepers and communities. • Increase engagement with local Levelling Up projects. • Support households to reduce their energy consumption and adopt energy efficiency measures, including increased uptake of Heat Pumps. |
The increased cost of living, brought about by a tough global economic environment, has added pressure to many households. Since 2022, the ‘Help for Households’ campaign has played an instrumental role in helping people understand and access the Government schemes available to help with the cost of living. The cross-government campaign brings together financial support and advice from across departments to communicate one coherent and comprehensive package – from support with childcare and travel costs, to free leisure activities and energy saving advice.
DfE, in partnership with DWP and HMRC, will continue to raise awareness and understanding of the Government’s expanding childcare offer. The ‘Childcare Choices’ campaign will build an understanding of the range of support available, enabling parents to return to work or increase their working hours. It will also target new parents and help them plan ahead so they can pursue the career of their choice alongside their family responsibilities.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) will continue to support some of the most vulnerable in our communities with their campaign promoting the StreetLink service. StreetLink enables members of the public to help connect rough sleepers with local support services by alerting outreach teams. Focusing on areas with the most acute rough sleeping issues, DLUHC’s campaign will raise awareness and understanding of the StreetLink service, helping to ensure that more alerts result in referrals and meaningful outcomes.
The Ministry of Justice will continue to protect communities by building awareness of victims’ rights under the Victims’ Code. They will work with agencies across the criminal justice system to ensure the Code is communicated effectively and consistently to victims and potential victims of crime, helping increase confidence in and awareness of the support available.
The Government’s Levelling Up agenda is designed to spread opportunity and strengthen local communities, ensuring people can feel proud of where they live, wherever they are in the UK. DLUHC’s Levelling Up campaign focuses on reaching small and medium sized businesses, promoting local investment opportunities and making it easy for them to get involved.
Everyone has the right to live in a safe, secure and decent home. The ‘Make Things Right’ campaign will continue to raise awareness and understanding of the social housing complaints process. Breaking down the complaints process into three accessible steps will help increase confidence in resolution and encourage more residents to report or escalate a complaint. The campaign will be supported by ongoing partnership activity with community and support organisations who will help reach vulnerable social housing residents.
DLUHC will also promote the Government’s reforms in the private rented sector and the leasehold system. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill will make it cheaper and easier for more leaseholders to extend their lease, buy their freehold and take over management of their building. The Renters (Reform) Bill will abolish ‘no fault’ evictions and reform landlords’ possession grounds. DLUHC’s targeted communications will ensure audiences understand how they can make the most of these changes, which will help to better the lives of millions of renters and homeowners in England and Wales.
The Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA) will continue to ensure the UK’s 2 million veterans and their families can access support to enable them to thrive in civilian life. Working closely with local, regional and national partners such as veteran charities, healthcare organisations and businesses, the OVA will encourage engagement with specialist veteran services and ensure veterans contribute their extensive skills to the UK economy by maximising access to employment opportunities. Their communications will also continue to recognise the contribution all veterans have made to the country and promote the positive stories that support integration into civilian communities.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will also continue their work with the Environment Agency to support communities most at risk of flooding. Their hyper-localised communications prepare vulnerable audiences by increasing understanding of the actions people can take if flooding should occur, and of the support available to them.
| Communities as a partner, as well as an audience The 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that local businesses, people and employers are some of the most trusted voices in society. By building our partnerships with local community representatives and organisations, government communicators to more effectively and authentically reach, engage and listen to our audiences. |