Mapping Britain's needs

Mapping Britain’s Needs is a major research-based exercise to profile the most pressing unmet needs in communities across Britain. It is funded by the Commission on Unclaimed Assets. It looks beyond the issues frequently picked up by statistics and academia and examines the needs of society’s most neglected groups such as refugees, children and the elderly. The first stage of the project is complete and the finished report can be found here.

We highlighted more than 40 “needs” which presently go unmet in Britain, and which we see as pressing. These broadly fit into a few clusters:

• Classic Poverty – e.g. debt, homelessness, illness
• Side Effects of Globalisation – e.g. exploitation of undocumented migrants, asylum seekers, human trafficking, new “slavery” in agriculture, sex industries etc
• Effects of Fractured and Weak Families – e.g. runaways, teenage pregnancies, youth offending, substance abuse
• Psychic Needs – e.g. depression, loneliness, isolation
• Effects of Harmful Lifestyles and Consumption – e.g. obesity, binge drinking, drug use

Mapping method

We identified Britain’s needs using a range of different methods:

• statistical analyses combining both hard and subjective data
• reviews of front line research reports, from government, academia, foundations and the third sector
• interviews/focus groups with members of the public and frontline agencies around the country
• an opinion poll by MORI which explored issues of perception of need, loneliness, disempowerment, mutual support and the way people meet their needs
• a mapping exercise by the Henley Centre which helped us to understand the connection between needs and the conditions of multiple need that may affect certain groups within society
  

Follow-up to our research

• Geoff Mulgan presented our work to the Commission on Unclaimed Assets in March and our research will help to guide their campaign for a new funding mechanism
• A seminar at the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in June initiated the discussion on our next steps -we hope that Mapping Britain’s Needs will be made into a more regular programme of work in the future.
• We are completing a project on Mapping rural needs in Britain and Ireland funded by the Carnegie UK Trust.

Geoff Mulgan, Alessandra Buonfino and Lilli Geissendorfer (2006) "Mapping Britain’s Needs: a Young Foundation report for the Commission on Unclaimed Assets", Young Foundation.

For more information, contact rushanara.ali(AT)youngfoundation.org