The King's Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF) have joined forces to support genuine partnership-working in local areas between the voluntary and community sector, the NHS and local authorities to improve the health and wellbeing of local communities. The Healthy communities together programme offers up to £3 million of grant funding and £850,000 worth of leadership development support to place-based partnerships. 

Phase one 

Six partnerships participated in phase one of Healthy communities together. Each partnership includes voluntary and community sector organisations, NHS organisations and local authorities. In phase one, lasting nine months from February 2021, they developed plans and tested approaches. At the end of phase one, all partnerships went through a further process to assess their progress and readiness for phase two.  

Phase two 

Five partnerships were successful in reaching phase two of the programme. Each partnership will implement their plans, aiming to transform the way communities, voluntary and community sector organisations, NHS organisations and local authorities work together in their area. Phase two will last for three years from 2022 to 2024.  

Grants from The National Lottery Community Fund will enable each partnership to develop capacity for working together and support the participation of community organisations. In addition, The King’s Fund will provide sustained leadership and organisational development support to partnerships throughout phase two, helping and challenging them to work together in new ways and to foster stronger relationships.  

As the programme progresses, The King’s Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund will also work with the Healthy communities together partnerships to identify and disseminate learning from their experience.