Who we are

We are a partnership of statutory and voluntary sector organisations and services, who have come together to develop innovative ways of supporting individuals with multiple disadvantage.

Our staff come from a range of backgrounds – with many people having direct personal experience of the issues affecting our beneficiaries. Our team have expertise in all areas of Multiple Disadvantage and we second staff from partner organisations such as the police. We are determined, professional and persistent in our desire to work closely with often very disaffected people who are disengaged from their local communities and the services set up to help them.

Blackpool Fulfilling Lives (BFL) is governed by a Strategic Board made up of senior level representatives from organisations that provide services to or work with people who have multiple needs. We have an Operational Group of front line managers of services in Blackpool who provide expert advice and guidance in the operational development and delivery of the programme.

The development and delivery of the BFL programme is influenced and guided by our Lived Experience Team (LET) made up of people who been supported by BFL and who have personal experience of using services. Our LET are fully involved in the governance of the programme and hold the board to account for the project's function through the lens of the service user.

Addaction is the lead organisation for the Fulfilling Lives programme in Blackpool.

Why Blackpool?

It's estimated that at any one time there is a minimum of 1200 people living in Blackpool with Multiple Disadvantage

The Hard Edges: Mapping Severe and Multiple Disadvantage in England report, commissioned by Lankelly Chase and published in January 2015, revealed Blackpool as the local authority area in England with the highest prevalence of people with Severe and Multiple Disadvantage (SMD).

The information below highlights why Blackpool has such a relatively high proportion of people with multiple disadvantage:

  • Blackpool has significantly more crime per 1000 population than the rest of the Lancashire Districts, the North West Region and England.
  • The Blackpool districts of Talbot, Brunswick, Claremont, Bloomfield, Brunswick, and Park wards, where many of our service users live, all have one or more areas ranked within the top 100 most deprived areas in the country and all feature as crime hotspots for one or more crime categories.
  • Blackpool has some of the highest levels of alcohol related harm in the country, not only in direct health effects such as premature death and chronic liver disease but in other consequences such as disorder and violence.
  • Blackpool’s directly standardised rate of mortality from chronic liver disease is the highest in the country and is more than three times that of the rate in England and Wales.
  • Blackpool has higher estimated levels of opiate and crack use of at least two and a half times the national average.
  • Injecting drug use in Blackpool is also estimated to be considerably higher than average at over three times the national rate.
  • Within significant areas of Blackpool people are over two times more likely to be admitted to hospital due to mental health needs than the national average.
  • The rate of mortality from suicide has remained consistently greater than that of the North West and England, particularly for males.

Other Fulfilling Lives Projects in England

Blackpool is one of 12 areas in England that has received Big Lottery Fund investment through the Fulfilling Lives: Supporting People with Multiple Disadvanatge initiative. The programme aims to promote learning and encourage good practice among the Fulfilling Lives projects and local stakeholders.

Fulfilling Lives investment is targeted at areas with a high concentration of people with multiple disadvantage. One partnership has been funded in each of the 12 areas selected. These local partnerships share their intelligence, learning and good practice with other Fulfilling Lives projects. For example, the Fulfilling Lives programmes in Blackpool, Liverpool and Manchester collaborate to run an annual conference to showcase innovative working across the three areas. For more information on the national Fulfilling Lives Programme please click.