We are incredibly proud to announce that Maggs Day Centre has been awarded £517,506 over three years through the Government’s Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund (EHCF).
The nationally competitive fund, delivered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, is designed to support voluntary and community organisations working to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping across England.
For Maggs, the award represents a significant investment specifically in the future of our Worcester Day Centre and the support available to people experiencing homelessness and hardship in the city.
What does it mean?
For many years, Worcester Day Centre has been sustained through a combination of public funding, charitable trusts and grants, alongside the extraordinary generosity of businesses, community groups and individual supporters.
That support has enabled Maggs to keep an essential frontline service available to people at some of the most difficult moments in their lives.
The new three-year EHCF investment gives us an opportunity to go further.
From 1 September 2026, Worcester Day Centre will extend its opening hours to 9am–5pm, Monday to Friday.
But this isn’t simply about keeping the doors open for longer.
Our established immediate and crisis support will continue, while the extended day will give us greater opportunity to provide planned, meaningful support that helps people address the circumstances behind their homelessness and move forward.
The developing programme will include dedicated one-to-one support and casework, structured activities, health and wellbeing provision, practical support and opportunities to access specialist partners and other services.
Monday and Wednesday afternoons will initially create protected space for one-to-one appointments, casework and partner support, while Tuesdays and Thursdays will provide opportunities for structured activities and health and wellbeing provision.
Activities will develop with the people using the service and could include practical life skills, cooking and budgeting, gardening and allotment activities, health and wellbeing sessions and activities delivered alongside our volunteers and partners.
Crucially, the programme isn’t intended to stand still. Feedback and ideas from people using Worcester Day Centre will help us shape what is offered as the service develops.
More time – and more opportunity
Jon, our very own CEO, said: “This is a hugely significant investment for Maggs and, most importantly, for the people who rely on our Worcester Day Centre.
“For many years, the service has been sustained through public funding, charitable grants and the incredible generosity of our supporters. This award gives us the opportunity not simply to sustain that work, but to develop it.
“Extending our opening hours creates something much more valuable than simply additional time. It gives our teams more opportunity to work alongside people, understand what they need and provide the practical and personalised support that can help somebody move forward.
“We’re incredibly proud that Maggs has been trusted to deliver this investment through such a competitive national programme. It is a real vote of confidence in our team, our work and our ambitions for homelessness services in Worcester.”
Building support around the individual
Another important part of the developing model will be making it easier for people to navigate and access support.
A new volunteer-supported Help Hub will provide practical assistance such as making telephone calls, accessing information, identifying local services and opportunities, signposting and helping people navigate services.
Volunteers will play a growing role throughout the extended service, supporting activities and practical provision alongside our staff.
We will also continue developing our work with partner organisations, with the ambition of bringing more health, wellbeing and specialist support directly into the Day Centre through a coordinated programme.
The aim is simple: wherever possible, make it easier for someone to get the right help at the right time.
One investment within a countywide mission
While £517,506 is a transformative award for our Worcester Day Centre, it is important to be clear about what this funding represents.
The EHCF award is restricted funding specifically for this programme of work at Worcester Day Centre. It is not unrestricted funding for Maggs as a whole.
Maggs is a countywide charity.
Our teams support people experiencing homelessness and hardship across Worcestershire, and our work extends far beyond one building or one programme.
Our need for ongoing fundraising therefore remains as important as ever.
The support of charitable trusts and foundations, businesses, community organisations and individual donors enables us to sustain work outside this particular award, respond to emerging needs and continue developing ways of reaching people who may struggle to access traditional services.
Jon added: “This award allows us to do something genuinely transformative in Worcester, and that deserves to be celebrated.
“But Maggs is a Worcestershire charity, and our responsibility extends far beyond one building or one programme. We continue to see significant need across the county, including in communities where homelessness can be much less visible.
“This investment strengthens one important part of Maggs. Our wider mission continues, and so does our determination to make sure that people experiencing homelessness and hardship across Worcestershire have somewhere to turn.”
A service that will develop with the people who use it
Not everything will change overnight on 1 September.
We are deliberately taking a phased approach, establishing a safe and effective extended service first and developing activities, partnerships, volunteering and other opportunities as we learn what works.
Most importantly, the people using Worcester Day Centre will be part of that process.
Their feedback, experiences and ideas will help shape the programme over the months ahead, ensuring that the service develops in response to the people it exists to support.
Three years of investment. And an extraordinary opportunity to build the next chapter of Worcester Day Centre.
We are incredibly proud to have been chosen to deliver it.
