Publish date: 20 November 2023
North East DWP commits to Making Every Contact Count
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the North East has committed to a pioneering collaboration, with the aim of making a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of customers seeking employment and claiming benefit.
DWP colleagues have conversations with customers every day, many of which cover issues around health and wellbeing. Staff in jobcentres, contact centres and those based in the community will now undertake Making Every Contact Count (MECC) training.
MECC is an evidence-based approach to behaviour change, which helps colleagues in public-facing roles to recognise opportunities to talk to customers about what they would like to do or change to support their health and wellbeing.
It is not just healthcare workers who contribute to promoting good health many organisations, and people can and are doing this. This is a whole community approach which recognises that working together can help make improvements to the health and wellbeing of citizens.
Sue Soroczan, DWP, Group Director for the North East of England said:
“Working with the wider community, we actively support MECC’s vision and values.
“We treat everyone as an individual on their journey to employment and seek to build a strong rapport with our customers. Through our regular conversations we regularly encounter customers struggling with their mental health and with associated factors, such as loneliness and family pressures.
“A key focus of MECC is the prevention of ill health and identifying the changes that can be made to maintain health and wellbeing, and ensure longer, healthier, and happier lives.
“The MECC training and website are brilliant tools which will help us have better conversations so that we can then signpost customers to the support they need.
“Training has started in the North East and we are now planning wider MECC roll out. We are proud to be involved in something that encapsulates our ethos of supporting our local communities.”
Craig Robson, regional MECC lead, said:
“We’re delighted that DWP is so keen to embed MECC. With the amount of people DWP support on a daily basis, its advisors are in the perfect position to have conversations that can encourage small changes to improve someone’s wellbeing.
“Our new partnership with DWP will help to support some of the people in our community who may not access healthcare or are unaware of the local support options available to them. Its relationships with prisons, schools and businesses also means we can spread the benefit of MECC even wider.
“With such good links in the local community, we’re also confident that together we can further build the resources available to encourage as many people as possible to get involved and provide support even further afield.
The regional MECC training programme forms part of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System's (ICS) work to ensure we achieve better health and wellbeing for all in the North East and North Cumbria, to help people live healthier lives for longer and is hosted by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
To learn more about MECC and how you can get involved, visit www.
Media contact:
Nicol Bradley, communications officer
nicol.