A report being published by Centre for Public Impact UK and charity Changing Lives today (Oct 13), has shown that hard to reach feel that not enough is being done to reach them, particularly during the pandemic.
The report outlines how despite this part of the population being most affected by the pandemic, they still continue to be unheard by public services and Government.
For this reason, the report suggests that “hard to reach” people should instead be referred to as “seldom heard”.
UK Director of the Centre for Public Impact, Nadine Smith, says:
“There is growing recognition that a successful response to coronavirus hinges on our ability as a country to communicate effectively across places and populations, yet we seldom hear from people experiencing the most serious life challenges.
“Trust in public services locally is fragile and we heard trust between people and government nationally deteriorated in lockdown too, so we need to remove hierarchy, assumptions and bureaucracy from all communications and engagement processes and instead enable those who have that trust to be vital connectors to the parts of society others are failing to reach, whoever they are.”
Participants of CPI UK and Changing Lives’ listening project expressed that they needed a better sense of effective listening which leads to impact that can improve a sense of connection and wellbeing.
