The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has announced the 15 local partners that will lead the charge to bid for between £4m and £10m to support those with multiple needs in their local areas.

A £100m pot was announced in July to be shared between 15 areas in England identified as having a high number of people dealing with multiple issues including drug and alcohol dependency, homelessness, reoffending, and mental health. It is estimated that there are around 60,000 adults in England with 'multiple needs'. The project aims to integrate these people better in society and find ways to deliver more tailored support, involving the beneficiaries throughout the process.

Nat Sloane, Big Lottery Fund England chair said: “Multiple issues feed off each other and can lead to a downward spiral of ill-health and harm to individuals, their family and society as a whole. By working in this original way we aim to not only improve the lives of the people reached over the eight years, but to also feed into a wider study of what works in order to influence policy and practice in the future.

“To do this, it is essential that people experiencing these issues are genuinely involved throughout the design and delivery of each project. By showing why and how this approach works we can inform future policy both within the areas funded and beyond.”

The 15 'lead partners' chosen include housing associations, homelessness charities and rehabilitation facilities. They will run a team of organisations from their areas to develop a vision for how they would use the money, submitting this to BIG by 17 December.

Between £4m and £10m will be awarded to the areas over a period of five to eight years, depending on the pitches made by the teams.

Decisions on funding will be made in March next year with up to £50,000 provided to teams to develop their projects. Business plans will then be submitted by September 2013 ahead of delivery, which will begin in December next year.

The lead partners are:

Location	Organisation
Birmingham	Birmingham Voluntary Service Council
Blackpool	Addaction
Brighton	Brighton Housing Trust
Bristol	Second Step Housing Association Ltd
Camden &Islington, London	Single Homeless Project
Great Yarmouth	Voluntary Network
Lambeth, London	Resolving Chaos
Liverpool	Plus Dane Group
Manchester	Young People's Support Foundation
Newcastle/Gateshead	The Cyrenians Ltd
Nottingham	Framework Housing Association
Plymouth	Hamoaze House
Stoke on Trent	Brighter Futures
Tees Valley	The Wisegroup
West Yorkshire	Developing Initiatives Supporting Communities