About NSIP
The Inclusion Institute and the National Social Inclusion Programme
The Inclusion Institute takes forward the work of the National Social Inclusion Programme (NSIP), which closed on 31st March 2009.
The Social Exclusion Report and NSIP
The Social Exclusion Unit published its report ‘Mental Health and Social Exclusion’ in June 2004. The report's immediate impact was directed at improving the lives of people with mental health problems by reducing or eliminating barriers to employment and wider social participation. However it had great potential also to impact significantly across service areas, client populations and on the health, engagement and economic position of wider communities.
The National Social Inclusion Programme (NSIP) brought together the work of government departments and other organisations in a concerted effort to challenge attitudes, to enable people to fulfil their aspirations and to significantly improve opportunities and outcomes for people with mental health problems.
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The Report's Actions PointsThe report set out a 27-point action plan to bring together the work of government departments and other organisations in a concerted effort to challenge attitudes, enable people to fulfil their aspirations, and significantly improve opportunities and outcomes for this excluded group. Actions fell into six categories: |
- Stigma and discrimination - a sustained programme to challenge negative attitudes and promote awareness of people's rights;
- The role of health and social care in tackling social exclusion - implementing evidence-based practice in vocational services and enabling reintegration into the community;
- Employment - giving people with mental health problems a real chance of sustained paid work reflecting their skills and experience;
- Taking part in the local community - enabling people to lead fulfilling lives the way they choose;
- Getting the basics right - access to decent homes, financial advice and transport; and
- Making it happen - clear arrangements for leading this programme and maintaining momentum.
Following on from the report, a further publication of ‘Action on Mental Health’ was launched in October 2004 to offer practical tips to improve opportunities and outcomes for people.12 fact sheets
Implementing Change
The National Social Inclusion Programme, part of the National Institute For Mental Health (England), co-ordinated the overall delivery of the Mental Health and Social Exclusion report, and brought together individuals and organisations from a range of backgrounds and social inclusion expertise. The team had cross-government representation as well as voluntary sector, service user, mental health professionals, and cross programme membership. The implementation process was led through 7 key project areas: Employment, Income and Benefits, Education, Housing, Social Networks, Community Participation and Direct Payments.
Each project incoporated structures for user, carer and voluntary sector involvement and built on current good practice and social inclusion expertise. The building of partnerships in project work aimed to deliver a programme that had the organisational capacity to support sustainable change at a local level and develop a future where people with mental health problems have the same opportunities to work and participate in their communities as any other citizen
Most of the report’s actions were pursued within planned project work, but action was also necessary on a number of cross-cutting themes. These were areas of work whose content impacted on several or in some cases, all projects. These cross cutting themes were Research and Development, Workforce Development, Community Engagement and Criminal Justice.
Reaching Out
The work of NSIP was then reinforced by Reaching Out: An Action Plan on Social Inclusion which was published in late 2006 by the Prime Ministers Strategy Unit. This report focused on adults who are the most socially excluded and identified actions to build and deliver evidence-based models that improved employment and education opportunities while supporting anti-stigma employer-based programmes such as Shift. NSIP, in particular, focused on the development of dedicated regional teams to provide further support for the implementation of good practice in employment.
Vision and Progress: Social Inclusion and Mental Health
As its last publication, The National Social Inclusion Programme (NSIP) launched its ‘Vision and Progress’ report on 12th March, 2009. The report set out the achievements of NSIP since the 2004 Mental Health and Social Exclusion report by the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU). It reviewed the last four years activity at national, regional and local level. It highlighted the progress that has been made across the statutory and non-statutory sectors and highlighted the additional value of work beyond the formal remit; work that has sought to reach out to non-traditional services and partners to champion the social inclusion agenda in sometimes unfamiliar areas.
It also provided an assessment of the remaining and continuing challenges that still need to be addressed to improve outcomes for people with mental health problems. This is based on feedback from national and regional social inclusion leads across mental health and health services, local authorities and regional bodies, as well as information gathered through an analysis of progress and gaps with provider organisations at a local level.
The report is a further resource for policy makers, regional agencies and services to ensure that this important work is sustained and developed in the future. To download the 'Vision and Progress: Social Inclusion and Mental Health', please click here