New impact programmes launched to empower young people of Wigan

A programme was recently launched for at-risk children and young people in Wigan, designed and delivered through children and young person’s charity AllChild in partnership with Wigan Council.

The first ‘Impact Programmes’, which will involve 250 children in seven schools in the communities of Leigh, Atherton, and Tyldesley, were co-designed with Wigan Council, Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, local community organisations, and local schools.

The programmes will have a specific focus on helping to address key local priorities of reducing child mental health referrals, persistent absenteeism, and school suspensions and exclusions.

AllChild works in neighbourhoods of higher-than-average socio-economic inequality and provides a dedicated, trusted adult for each child called a ‘link worker’, who works directly with families, teachers, and local organisations to deliver a tailored plan for every child to help them build their social, emotional, and academic skills.

Chief executive of AllChild, Louisa Mitchell MBE, said: “The vision that the Secretary of State Lisa Nandy, Mayor Andy Burnham and Wigan Council share for children and young people is truly inspiring.

“AllChild’s community-led model of support and opportunity, working alongside families, schools, and the Early Help service, is strongly aligned with this vision.

“We share their commitment to ‘people, prevention and place’ and to taking an approach that focuses on building trusted relationships and an evidence base over time to make the case for early action with children and families.”

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “We know that a whole person approach led by local communities is the most effective way of creating positive change.

“We are excited to welcome this new partnership with AllChild, using a child centred model that provides wrap-around care to children and families in Wigan.

“This will use the strengths of the local community to give children and young people here the opportunities and skills they need to flourish.”

AllChild is a charity with a track record of building place-based, early action partnerships that change the system for children and families. Since 2016, it has supported more than 5,000 children across 60 schools who are at risk of negative outcomes including exclusion, developing mental health disorders, and requiring social care.

The charity received funding from the government’s recently-ended Life Chances Fund and, following eight years of delivery in west London under the name West London Zone, rebranded to AllChild in May 2024. The new project in Wigan marks its first outside of west London.

 AllChild and Wigan Council worked closely to identify local assets, as well as gaps and challenges in the area’s current early action landscape, to arrive at a collective impact model that addresses its specific challenges.

Trusted link worker relationships remain at the heart of the approach, but through listening and research, the model will employ a ‘whole-family’, holistic focus, to join up quality local services and organisations around proactively identified children and families.

Last month, Wigan Council launched a borough-wide plan in partnership with residents, businesses, public services, and community organisations to respond to the borough’s current opportunities and challenges together.

Councillor Jenny Bullen, cabinet member for children’s services at Wigan Council, said: “Our Progress with Unity plan sets out two clear missions for the borough, which includes creating fair opportunities for all children and families.

“The move to a whole family approach, to really understanding what is happening in children’s lives – in their families, in school and in the community – is central to our early help and prevention work in Wigan Borough.

“These new Impact Programmes, with the help of AllChild and in partnership with joined-up local public, private and community support services, as well as the communities of Leigh, Atherton, and Tyldesley themselves, we will be better able to identify and support children and young people before they reach crisis point and give them the opportunities they need to flourish in whatever life they choose.”