Crisis Changing Lives, UK

The aims

Helping homeless people gain long-term employment, and the confidence and skills to improve their lives.


The story 

Changing Lives grants awards to pay for learning to refresh their professional skills, helping them get back into employment. It is an extremely cost-effective solution to unemployment, costing on average £1,000 per recipient for their first step back into training or work.

A group of five Barclays colleagues have become Changing Lives mentors and ongoing help and support is provided through a dedicated team at Crisis.

Results to date

Since the launch of the Changing Lives programme, 85 per cent of the homeless people involved have received formal training, with 60 per cent finding paid work within a year.

Barclays and UK homelessness charity Crisis set up the Changing Lives programme in 2002. It is the only financial award-giving programme to support the vocational needs for single homeless people. Changing Lives seeks to help homeless people develop independence through gainful employment, with increased confidence.

Research from Crisis shows that 90 per cent homeless people have worked before and the majority feel ready to work again, but are often caught in a cycle of dependence and declining social networks, with skills that need updating.