I wanted to share my appreciation for the event at the Mustard Tree. It was incredibly inspiring, impactful, and informative. The discussions and presentations were truly enlightening and have left a lasting impression on me.
Social Work Apprentice attending the event
04 November 2025
The impact of the specialist homelessness social work role
Jess Harris co-convened major event in Manchester on next steps for policy and practice in England
Over 100 people participated in an event on the specialist homelessness social worker role today in Manchester. Jess Harris, Research Fellow at the Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King's, convened the gathering with Ellie Atkins, Manager of the entrenched rough sleeper social work team in Manchester.
The question for the day at the event, which was held at the Mustard Tree, was:
How can we ensure that research and practice evidence inform policy, funding and practice approaches across England, to reduce care and support inequalities?
The motivation for the day was:
Nationally, the specialist homelessness social work role remains rare, usually short-term funded and viewed as outside mainstream social work. There is a critical need to share and embed approaches, as year on year people with unmet support needs die whilst homeless on average in their 40s, and as the numbers of people experiencing long-term rough sleeping and numbers of homeless deaths both rise. The aim of the event was to drive national service transformation to improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness and multiple disadvantage.
The day was chaired by Sarah McClinton, Chief Social Worker for Adults, DHSC.
Speakers:
- Steph Grant, lived experience speaker and Chair of the Head Injury & Homelessness Research Group: ‘F— off. S.O.S.’
- Jess Harris, Research Fellow, King’s College London: ‘The impacts & tensions of the specialist homelessness social work role: messages from research’
- Ellie Atkins, Manager, Entrenched rough sleeper social work team, Manchester ‘Let's talk social work: Prevent, reduce, delay’
- Dr Cristina Temenos, Reader, University of Manchester: ‘Responding to Crisis: A global perspective on social work for innovating access to homeless care’
- Dr Karl Mason, Senior Lecturer, Royal Holloway University of London: ‘What do they teach them in these schools? Addressing Multiple Exclusion Homelessness in Social Work Education’
- Barney Wells, Director, Enabling Assessment Service London CIC: ‘Social Work Role in mobilizing good practice across services: capacity building and contributing to multi agency work’
- Sarah Blackmore, Social Work England
- Dr Adi Cooper OBE
- John Herring, Director in Integrated Care and culture change, NHS Greater Manchester
- Bernie Enright, Executive Director, Adult Social Services, Manchester
- Joanna Midgley, prior Elected Member for Homelessness; Deputy Leader, Manchester
- Michael Preston-Shoot, Professor Emeritus (Social Work), University of Bedfordshire was unable to be with us on the day, but has shared his reflections.
The event was followed by the Annual meeting of the National Peer Network for social workers specialising in homelessness (page includes Ellie Atkins' reflections on the Manchester event)
See also
- Harris, J. (2023) Evidencing the social work role within responses to multiple exclusion homelessness, London: NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health & Social Care Workforce, The Policy Institute, King’s College London. Project page.
- Homelessness Research Programme at King's. With a particular focus on this event, the Homelessness Research Programme has been nominated for the ‘King’s Engaged Research Awards 2026’.
- Homelessness series (ongoing webinar series run by Jess Harris)
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