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St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity Supports National Drive to Strengthen the Homelessness Workforce

St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity Supports National Drive to Strengthen the Homelessness Workforce

St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity Supports National Drive to Strengthen the Homelessness Workforce

Wednesday, August 5, 2026

St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity is contributing its frontline expertise to the Government's new National Workforce Programme, part of the Ministry for Housing and Local Government (MHCLG)'s.

The NWP is a £12 million, three-year MHCLG grant programme (April 2026–March 2029), part of the Government’s National Plan to End Homelessness. The programme aims to strengthen capacity, capability and career pathways across the homelessness and rough sleeping workforce in England.  In plain terms its government money set aside to support you – the people doing the day-to-day work with people experiencing homelessness.

The Programme is delivered through four pillars, Foundations led by Homeless Link with St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity and Expert Link, Training led by Shelter and Homeless Link, Advice (Shelter)  and Community (Housing Justice)

Pillar 1 – "Foundations" – brings together Homeless Link, St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity and Expert Link to build the skills, capacity and career pathways for the sector, including new accredited qualifications, a national recruitment campaign, further development of the National Homelessness Skills Framework, and new research to build the national evidence base on the workforce.

St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity will bring the insight, experience and understanding from its direct connection to the frontline workforce, built through its Frontline Network. St Martin-in-the-Fields works directly with individual frontline workers and organisations across England, as well as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, gathering their views through nine years of survey data and providing training, events, resources and funding directly to those working on the frontline of tackling and preventing homelessness across charities and statutory and other services too. St Martin’s will draw on this evidence and reach to help inform and shape the ongoing development of the National Workforce Programme, helping ensure that the programme reflects what frontline workers themselves say they need and value.

“Ask someone who has experienced homelessness what made the difference and they will invariably say it was the frontline worker who engaged with and supported them and who believed their circumstances could change and worked with them to ensure they got the accommodation, support and services they needed. Such frontline workers are more vital than ever but too often they are undervalued, overworked and their voices not heard. At St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity we have long sought to champion the role, value, concerns and needs of frontline workers so we were delighted that in its new National Plan to End Homelessness, the Government recognised the importance of investing in the workforce, its training, skills and encouraging people to join it. Alongside Expert Link we are delighted to have the opportunity to share our knowledge, insight, expertise and experience to support Homeless Link as they develop and deliver this National Workforce Programme to help it to be impactful and to make a real and tangible difference”  - Duncan Shrubsole CEO St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity

More details on how organisations and individuals can get involved in our work on the programme will follow in the coming months.

You can find out more about Homeless Link's role as lead partner, here.

The Government’s National Workforce Programme  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-workforce-programme

Shelter’s funded training https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/shelter_training/free_and_discounted_training

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