Our annual stakeholder survey helps us understand how we’re doing at People’s Health Trust. We want to provide the resources and support needed for communities to drive their own change locally and so it is important to hear feedback from our stakeholders.
Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey and shared their experiences with us. The majority of respondents currently receive funding from the Trust (96%).
Read our latest findings below.
Communications:
- 98% of respondents agree that it is easy to find the information required on the website, that the Trust communicates clearly what it does, and its approach to health inequality – similar results to last year, which were an increase on previous years.
- 60% of respondents are aware of the Trust’s campaigning and influencing work to some extent and 28% to a large extent.
Feedback about communications was generally positive such as:
- Very informative, we found the information on social determinants of health very interesting as it helped us look at our community offer and understand the needs of our participants. (website)
Areas for improvement highlighted in the feedback included:
- I don't think you show off how much additional support you give to organisations you fund in the initial information - you do much more than organisations first realise!
Customer Service
Customer service feedback is similar to previous years, with high levels of satisfaction with the responses to enquiries (81% felt responses were helpful). All comments provided about the way enquiries were handled were very positive.
Application process
All of the following results on the application process are similar to last year:
- 55% have found the application process easy to some extent and 32% to a large extent.
- Some organisations clearly find the process challenging, with others giving very positive feedback. There are some specific postcode-related comments (see below).
- The guidance notes are considered helpful by 91% of respondents.
- 90% of respondents received a decision within the published timescale and 89% feel that the decision timescale on Active Communities is reasonable.
The Trust received a range of feedback about the application process including positive feedback about support received from Partnership Officers, clarity of guidance, and useful feedback given, and some concerns raised about the amount of information being requested in the application form.
Grant management:
- 30% of respondents have seen a reduction in funding from central or local government in the last 12 months, 28% have not seen a reduction and 42% say the question was not applicable to them.
- 96% of respondents feel that organisations such as the Trust are critical at this time
- The Trust received a range of feedback about the grants management including positive feedback about the importance of and impact of the grant for their organisation, strong and supportive relationships with grant managers, and flexibility, as well as some concerns raised about the complexity of progress reporting.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:
The Trust works with marginalised groups of people across England, Scotland and Wales. We aim to encourage inclusivity, diversity and equity in our work and yours. We asked respondents indicate to what extent they agree to the following statements:
- 90% of respondents found marketing materials accessible to some or a large extent.
- 86% agreed to some or a large extent that marketing materials would encourage people from marginalised communities to apply.
- 73% agreed their contact with the Trust had been positive in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion to a large extent and 23% to a small or some extent
- Most respondents (95%) agree to some or a large extent that the Trust works flexibly to meet different needs of different groups.
- 89% feel that tools and guidance enable inclusivity to some or a large extent.
- 93% of respondents feel the Trust’s programmes reflect the diversity of the communities in which they live and work.
Influencing change and networking
There were new questions this year about how support from the Trust has enabled organisations to influence change and about networking events provided by the Trust.
- 56% felt they have the tools, confidence and knowledge to effect change to a large extent, and 35% to some extent.
- 65% said they know what health inequalities are and I are confident explaining them to people to a large extent and 32% to some extent.
- 60% said they have greater confidence in tackling health inequalities to a large extent, and 35% to some extent.
- 42% of organisations had participated in a network event and 58% had not. 37% of organisations had participated in capacity building or training events, and 63% had not.
The most common reason given for not attending a or capacity building event was staff time and capacity (and sometimes cost), followed by lack of awareness of the events.
General feedback
We asked stakeholder if there is anything further you would like to tell us about where we are getting it right, or where we can improve?
Positive feedback outweighed negative and focused on Trust’s responsiveness and support as well as the impact on communities and capacity building support to organisations. Suggestions for change were mostly about funding criteria, the burden of application and grant management for small organisations, and fundable areas.
How we are responding to the survey results
The staff team discussed the results in November 2023 and we are now working across teams to implement suggestions for improvement.
We continue to implement our EDI Action Plan to ensure that EDI is considered in all of our practices.
