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The SAVVI Declaration

Welcome to the homepage for the SAVVI Declaration, please take the time to watch the video below from our project Sponsor, Phil Swan, GMCA, who is inviting you to join and sign the declaration.

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This SAVVI Declaration defines a collective ambition to tackle vulnerability in the UK through improvements in data sharing and consistent adoption of good practice. View the latest version of the SAVVI Declaration below.

Introduction

This declaration defines a collective ambition to tackle vulnerability in the UK through improvements in data sharing and consistent adoption of good practice.

This joint endeavor was initiated by the Scalable Approach to Vulnerability via Interoperability “SAVVI” Project (which is funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and a collection of public sector bodies, who recognise a common opportunity to improve how we use data to identify and support vulnerable people.

We invite all public and voluntary sector bodies, both national and local, together with industry and academia, to sign the Declaration and join us in committing to work together to define and adopt a common approach.

The Challenge

Across the UK, a large amount of public sector funding is spent on a small proportion of the population, estimated to be less than 10%, often with duplication and inadequate alignment between agencies. It is therefore important to know how and where to target funding in order to provide effective support. Data can help determine how to optimise spending, from simply responding to people and households in crisis, to a more useful prevention and early intervention approach.

As an example, around a third of children in the UK are not ‘school ready’ when they arrive in reception at age four. The first two years of a child’s life are key, but the data on which children need support is typically fragmented between multiple services and organisations and difficult to join up.

We recognise that there are a number of distinct prevention initiatives relating to “Early Identification and Smarter Intervention”. Some initiatives focus on analysing data to find patterns that can be used as evidence to form policy, whereas others have an operational focus to find and support real people and families.

Some are initiated by Government, such as DLUHC’s Supporting Families programme or the MOJ’s Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme, and others are initiated locally to meet local priorities such as Wigan’s “Share to Care” initiative. Whether central or local, or whether the topic is about homelessness, loneliness, financial distress, re-offending, school-readiness, child poverty, domestic abuse or digital exclusion, programmes face a common set of challenges, such as:

What data can be lawfully and ethically used to find those that might be at risk?

Who has that data, and will they share it?

Can I load the data into a common tool, or do I need a different tool for each topic?

How do I know what local support offers are out there?

What type of support works well for addressing what needs?

How effective is the initiative in reducing hardship?

At the moment, these initiatives are not well sighted on each-other and are not building on shared learning and outputs. Some councils tell us that having had some success with one type of vulnerability, little of that investment can be reused when moving onto tackling a different vulnerability topic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the power of data to find and support those that need help, and shown us that this approach is more achievable than many of us previously thought. The opportunity is to build on that experience and make using shared data a routine part of how we address vulnerability.

The Opportunity

We have an opportunity to bring our initiatives together and support each other to develop a common approach that can be reused across any vulnerability topic. Our common approach can include:

a common process to find, assess, and support vulnerable people

data standards to share data between partners

information governance so that data is shared legally, ethically and transparently

a catalogue of successful initiatives which can be discovered and repeated

When this common approach is adopted, we can look forward to a future in which:

data will be shared as a ‘data service’ within a trust framework - confident that only the minimum information is passed to those that have a right to it

people can participate in how their data is shared

suppliers can develop ‘standards compliant’ data and case management tools so that investments are re-used and innovation is rewarded

organisations that provide support have a real-time shared understanding of a family circumstance and how each is participating in the support

operational data collected during a vulnerability initiative is ready to be analysed to continually improve the process

common dashboards and outcome frameworks give assurance and transparency

proactively preventing vulnerability will become the norm, rather than the exception

Our Shared Ambition

We want to co-create the conditions for shared learning, and reusing investments, across multiple initiatives looking at different types of vulnerability, and be ready for unknown challenges that we may face in the future.

We know that each vulnerability initiative faces a common set of challenges, but solves them in their own way, so that the results are not re-usable or easily shared.

Our ambition requires a recognition that each type of vulnerability can be tackled using a common approach and we have agreed six commitments that define that approach:

We recognise that many types of vulnerability could be tackled using a common approach

We will take part in building a common framework that enables sharing of data and good practice

We will use the common framework within our organisations as an exemplar in supporting vulnerability initiatives

We will share our outputs and experiences into a common catalogue so that others can build on our success

We will work together towards a common ecosystem of trusted data and services

We will collectively tackle blockers to using shared data for vulnerability, and make the case for change

Appendix - About SAVVI

SAVVI, standing for ‘a Scalable Approach to Vulnerability via Interoperability’, is a programme hosted by Tameside Council on behalf of the local public sector, and funded by the Local Digital team within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). This work is overseen by the iStandUK Executive Board which includes representatives from central and local government in the UK.

The purpose of the SAVVI project is to define common processes, data sharing, and data standards, to improve how we work together to identify vulnerable people, and target appropriate support to those in greatest need.

SAVVI has defined the SAVVI Playbook which includes:

a common process that can be applied to any topic of vulnerability

a set of data standards that enable data to flow between partners, using the common process

an Information Governance Framework to ensure that data is shared lawfully, ethically and transparently

a catalogue of successful data sharing to support vulnerability

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`Contact us to discuss signing the SAVVI Declaration`⁠
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If you prefer, you can view the copy of the Declaration in PDF format below.

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The SAVVI Declaration.pdf

375 kB

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