Opportunity Bucks

Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) is a national network led by a group of charities. It focuses on improving outcomes for people experiencing disadvantages and looking at systemic barriers that impact on them.

We joined the network in 2021 as part of our work through the Opportunity Bucks programme to improve outcomes for residents experiencing hardship.

The MEAM Approach helps local areas give better services for people experiencing disadvantages.

It's used by partnerships from different agencies in 50 areas across England.

The areas consider 7 principles, which are changed depending on local needs:

1. Partnership, co-production and vision
2. Consistency in selecting a caseload
3. Co-ordination for clients and services
4. Flexibility from services
5. Service improvement and workforce development
6. Measurement of success
7. Sustainability and systems change

The areas improve outcomes for people by:

• reducing the use (and cost) of different public services
• developing long-term changes to local systems.

In Buckinghamshire the focus is on supporting groups of people within the Opportunity Bucks target wards:

• those presented as homeless to the council repeatedly or who have experienced prolonged rough sleeping
• those who have applied to the council repeatedly for financial support through the Helping Hands team
• those who have been referred to adult social care and not engaging with services, where other services are unable or struggling to meet needs, or:
  • do not have eligible support and care needs, or
  • they do not want support from adult social care​

Through MEAM we work with a range of services, agencies and organisations that are involved in people’s lives to understand their ​experiences supporting people with complex challenges in the current system.

Currently the MEAM team are not accepting new referrals.

Email [email protected]