The Step Up programme was a £300,000 grant fund for Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) Organisations who are based and working in Wirral.

The programme offered 20 organisations a £15,000 investment to support them to deliver the Gamechanger outcomes in the Wirral Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

To be eligible, organisations must:

Be based and delivering work in Wirral – preferably with most of their leadership (trustees, staff, volunteers) living in the area
Have a bank account, in the name of the organisation, which requires at least 2 unrelated signatories to authorise transactions
Have had a turnover (income) of more than £10,000 in their last submitted accounts (Charity Commission, Companies House etc)
Be seeking funds to play a greater part in delivering the Wirral Health & Wellbeing Strategy Gamechangers
Be willing to share their learning – successes and challenges with other funded organisations and other colleagues.

Documents

View the Health & Wellbeing Strategy

View the Guidance Notes

View the Application Questions (for information)

Gamechangers

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

Early Years/Family Help

Below are the successful organisations and a summary of their projects as part of the Step Up Fund.

Nightingales Recovery Cafe CIC

Nightingales Recovery CIC, in collaboration with Wirral Ways and NHS cardiology services, proposes a new CVD identification, treatment, and rehabilitation pathway for Wirral Ways service users, integrating diagnostics and fast-tracking to secondary care, along with gym-based recovery support and wellbeing activities.

Wirral Mencap

Wirral Mencap's Healthy Hearts programme aims to reduce CVD risk in adults with learning disabilities by piloting a tailored, participant-driven initiative with 6 Health Ambassadors who will promote healthy habits, deliver workshops, and raise awareness through community events.

One Wirral CIC

One Wirral plans to expand its CVD prevention efforts with a pilot project in Birkenhead A/B, collaborating with local food networks to tailor interventions, provide resources, and align with Wirral's Core20PLUS5 and Health and Wellbeing Strategy to support low-income families.

Energise Cycles

Energise Cycles plans to expand its community bike rides by targeting groups focused on heart health, providing participants with bikes to remove financial barriers, and partnering with British Triathlon to offer a Community Activator course, enabling participants to lead beginner-friendly cycling, swimming, and running activities.

The Quirky Community Hub CIC

The Quirky Community Hub's “SEND Friends” program will provide monthly workshops on Neurodivergence-related themes, weekly support group meetings, 1-1 home visits across Wirral, a sensory room for childcare, and a helpline for tailored SEND advice and guidance.

NEO Community

NEO focuses on supporting resilient families by expanding initiatives such as practical healthy eating sessions, more School-Ready Family Clubs providing meals and family time, and programs to build financial resilience and peer support, while serving as a key resource for accessing essential services like the Family Toolbox.

Heart 4 Refugees CIC

Heart 4 Refugees plan to expand their Early Years Outreach team, currently supporting 90 families, by partnering with the NHS and children’s centres to provide peri and post-natal mental health support, sexual health advice and domestic abuse assistance at Stay and Play sessions for refugee/asylum families, while also funding interpreters, developmental toys and school readiness advice.

Caritas

Caritas aims to support survivors of Domestic Abuse and their families through individual and group counselling, both in-person and virtually, as well as offering clinical hypnotherapy to manage anxiety and rewind therapy for trauma treatment in a safe, controlled environment.

Employment

Comics Youth CIC

Comics Declassified is an employability program for 100 hard-to-reach young adults (16-30) in Wirral, combining comic creation skills with essential skills like project management and entrepreneurship, offering 12-week cohorts, industry-led masterclasses and mentorship to help participants share their work and build networks.

Make CIC

Make CIC propose to establish and enhance Make Hamilton, a makerspace offering accessible, affordable skill development and creative opportunities by investing in staff training, building partnerships, integrating best practices and fostering community engagement to improve employability, ensuring long-term sustainability and inclusivity.

Bee Wirral

Bee Wirral will co-ordinate a project to provide tailored community support for unemployed men over-50 who are long-term sick and isolated, aiming to demonstrate that a holistic approach between statutory organisations and the community sector can improve access to wellbeing and employment services, including the establishment of a collaborative men's wellbeing hub in Birkenhead.

The Hive

The Hive propose to extend our support for young people aged 16-25 with disabilities or additional needs by enhancing our current program to include structured training in partnership with Merseyside Community Training, offering work placements, volunteering opportunities and tailored youth work and mentoring support to facilitate their transition into education, employment or training.

Wirral Chinese Association

The Wirral Chinese Association seeks support to train three trustees as employment advisors to combat the rising unemployment rate of 48% among skilled professionals in the local Chinese community, following a 150% increase in population since 2021, by offering a 12-week NVQ-level training course and hosting workshops and mentoring on job-seeking skills.

Violence Reduction

Hitched Communities

Hitched Communities propose to co-design, implement and evaluate a ROC Angels project in Birkenhead, collaborating with night-time economy partners and the faith community to establish a roaming welfare street team service that addresses the emotional and physical needs of vulnerable individuals, enhances local safety and signposts available services, while recruiting and training volunteers from diverse backgrounds.

WEB Merseyside

WEB will provide services across Wirral in response to data on violence and national trends indicating increased risks for individuals in high-deprivation areas, particularly women, through direct interventions and support programs, onward referrals to specialist providers, bespoke training and education packages, along with age-appropriate services tailored for both victims and perpetrators of violence, delivered in-house and through partner organisations like schools and youth services.

Open Door Charity

OOMOO aims to address violence reduction by targeting high-risk demographics, particularly vulnerable care-experienced young people aged 10-25, through weekend activities and focused support for young males, fostering positive relationships, trust and outlooks on the future, while providing robust one-on-one support and dynamic group activities for 223 members annually.

Future Yard CIC

Future Yard seeks support for the ‘Young Futures’ programme, designed to provide vulnerable young people in Birkenhead and Wirral with creative pathways to enhance social skills, well-being and confidence through music, engaging 620 participants in weekly sessions across three strands: practical music-making activities, hands-on training and work experience in live music, including free access to Future Yard’s live music programme, thereby transforming lives and fostering resilience in a real industry setting.

Tomorrow's Women

Tomorrow’s Women aims to expand its domestic abuse awareness and training expertise to include specialist support for stalking and harassment, creating a safe women-only hub that encourages reporting, provides safety planning and offers practical advice, addressing the serious and often escalating nature of this abuse, which can lead to severe consequences.

Fuel Poverty

Energy Projects Plus

This EPP project aims to address the health impacts of cold homes on vulnerable residents by providing one-to-one advice, practical measures and personalised action plans, directly linking health sector data with housing performance data to identify and assist at-risk patients living in poorly performing homes, while collaborating with One Wirral CIC to create a replicable service model for wider implementation.

WCCAP

Wallasey Churches Community Asset Project aim to provide holistic debt advice through a partnership between local churches and Christians Against Poverty UK (CAP), establish community groups focused on life skills and financial numeracy training with Open Awards accredited sessions on fuel poverty, enroll staff and volunteers in Level 2 “Achieving Affordable Warmth” training for frontline workers and explore collaboration opportunities with Cheshire and Merseyside NHS COPD trailblazer initiatives in Wirral.