- Community?led projects will support men and boys aged 16 and over during key moments in their lives like the transition to fatherhood, job loss or retirement
- Supports the government’s ambition to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions
Men will be given greater support to live longer, healthier lives through a new multi-million-pound partnership with Movember and People’s Health Trust.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will join forces with the charities to support community-led men’s health projects and tackle health inequalities.
The Men’s Health Community Fund is backed by £3 million from DHSC with Movember and People’s Health Trust more than doubling the government’s initial funding to give an overall investment of £6.3 million.
It will pioneer an innovative approach – bringing voluntary, community and social enterprise together to play a central role in delivering services and testing new ways to:
- support communities
- learn what genuinely works for men
- build better ways of reaching those who are least likely to engage with traditional services
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:
Too many men across the country are living shorter, less healthy lives – particularly those in our most disadvantaged communities.
This new partnership will help men get the support they need in the places they feel most comfortable – their communities, among people they trust. By working with expert charities and local organisations, we can reach the men who are too often missed by traditional services and help them take better care of their mental and physical health.
It is a key step in delivering our first ever Men’s Health Strategy and driving forward our ambition to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas.
Grants will back community projects that reach underserved men and boys aged 16 and over, particularly in areas experiencing the greatest disadvantage and at key moments in their lives. This could include:
- community projects for new fathers
- activities supporting men experiencing loneliness and social isolation
- young men’s social connections and engagement with the health system
- services that help men in work, out of work and moving to retirement
An evaluation will be funded via the National Institute for Health and Care Research to ensure the programme generates robust evidence to inform future policy and delivery.
Michelle Terry, CEO of Movember UK, said:
Almost every community has been impacted by losing men they care about too young. Thanks to our incredible supporters, Movember has been funding work going to where men are for over 20 years.
This partnership will scale and learn from incredible organisations supporting men in their communities, while embedding care that works for men in health systems.
We look forward to working together with government, health services and our friends in the third sector to grow these partnerships and drive forward the Men’s Health Strategy for England.
John Hume, Chief Executive of People’s Health Trust, said:
People’s Health Trust is proud to be a partner in this innovative programme with the government and Movember. Our expertise in working with communities to improve health outcomes ensures we reach men at the sharp end of poor health.
We design approaches that work for men and connect them with essential support through organisations and people they trust.
This programme, along with our Men’s Health Fund Appeal, enables us to address the widening and avoidable inequalities in health experienced by different groups of men across the country. Improving men’s health is good for men, families, communities and businesses.
Alongside delivering support, the programme will identify what works best and share proven approaches, so successful projects can be expanded and replicated across the country.
The Men’s Health Strategy for England set out the bold plan to take comprehensive action to tackle the specific physical and mental health challenges men and boys face every day.
Men can be less likely to seek help and more likely to suffer in silence. This, combined with a higher propensity to smoke, drink, gamble and use drugs means men’s health is suffering and having a significant impact on families, workplaces and communities. This strategy will help men and boys to live longer, healthier lives.
The new partnership is one of a number of steps being taken. Suicide is one of the biggest killers of men under 50 and three-quarters of all suicides are men. That’s why the government is also investing £3.6 million over the next 3 years in suicide prevention projects for middle-aged men in local communities across areas of England where men are at most risk of taking their own lives, many of which are also the most deprived.
The projects will break down barriers that middle-aged men face in seeking support, such as the stigma associated with seeking help and a lack of awareness of what is available and how to access it. Projects will be co-designed with experts and men with lived experience of mental health crises and suicidal thoughts. This comes on top of expanding mental health teams in schools to ensure an additional 900,000 pupils have access to support by April 2026.
