Pioneering programme to test the impact of personalised budgets for people with experience of rough sleeping.

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Homelessness is a pressing and increasingly prevalent social challenge. Experiences of homelessness are unique to each individual, both in their pathway into it and in finding a way out. In other fields of social policy there is a growing body of evidence that giving people agency to make decisions on how they overcome adversity is highly effective, but there have been far fewer evaluations of its effectiveness for people experiencing homelessness.

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The evidence base for the effectiveness of personalised budgets in low- and middle-income country settings is clear and conclusive. However, the use of personalised budgets in addressing homelessness has thus far only been evaluated a handful of times. This Test and Learn Programme is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, and the results will be immensely significant for efforts addressing homelessness.

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The Centre for Homelessness Impact (CHI) and Greater Change (GC) have therefore joined forces to launch a pioneering programme that has provided innovative personalised budgets to combat homelessness alongside a robust evaluation of the approach’s effectiveness. The project, which launched in August 2024, aims to assess the impact of providing personalised budgets to individuals with a history of rough sleeping, with the goal of supporting their transition out of homelessness.

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Varying types of personal budgets have been used by a number of local authorities and providers of homelessness services for some time, but this work evaluates a specific model developed by Greater Change. By using a person-centred approach to addressing homelessness, GC provides transformative financial support in the form of personalised budgets to people experiencing homelessness. Greater Change works with partner charities to deliver support, guaranteeing accountability by working with expert and experienced providers. To date, GC has supported over 1300 people, with 86% of those supported last year maintaining their move out of homelessness between 6 and 9 months later.

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Central to the success of this programme is its rigorous methodology, which utilises a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) design. Considered the gold standard in research, this allows for a comprehensive evaluation, conducted by King’s College London, of the impact of personalised budgets on housing stability and other key indicators of health and wellbeing.

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Alongside 16 partner organisations, such as Action Homeless, Porchlight and Centrepoint, Greater Change recruited 390 participants, who had previous experience of rough sleeping, and were currently living in temporary accommodation. The project involved both an intervention and control group, with people in the intervention group having received a personalised budget through their support worker, while people in the control group continued to receive typical homelessness services.

The funds provided were used for a range of needs, from clearing rent arrears to job training programmes or vital furnishings. The delivery phase of the programme has officially concluded, and final results can be expected in fall 2026.

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This three year programme is part of a broader £15 million Test and Learn initiative funded by MHCLG and delivered  by the Centre for Homelessness Impact and partners, including Greater Change. The initiative aims to explore bold, evidence-based solutions to end rough sleeping and reduce other forms of homelessness. This process involves setting up new pilots in close collaboration with service providers which will be robustly tested to improve the evidence base of what works, for whom and how, and will inform future decision-making.

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The choice of projects to be evaluated was shaped by leaders of local authority homelessness and housing teams, through responses to a call for practice, a survey and a series of workshops for practitioners and policy-makers. For Greater Change, it’s an incredible opportunity to  present its personalised budgets model on a national scale, alongside such a great variety of programmes. Further, because the programme is funded by the central government, it presents a real opportunity to influence national policy in the long run. While one trial won’t be enough to spark sweeping changes, it is an important step in that direction.