Spice and the Young Foundation: partnership innovation award runner-up

The Uplift scheme 'helps you anchor yourself, to anchor your place in society and your sense of identity', says one service user. Photograph: Spice

A time-bank project designed for health and social care service users is helping them feel less isolated and has the potential to transform their lives.

Under the Uplift scheme service users spend time volunteering for local organisations in return for time credits. They receive a credit for every hour given; in return the earned credits can be spent at local leisure or cultural venues which have signed up to the scheme.

Uplift has been established by the social enterprises Spice and the Young Foundation. It involves four local authorities in England, more than 200 local organisations and 1,000 service users who have notched up 20,000 credits.

As part of Uplift, each local authority hosts a Spice facilitator whose job it is to create a local time credit network made up of service users, community organisations, public services and private businesses. Each network offers a mix of earn or spend opportunities.

David Russell, head of health and social care at Spice, says: "Uplift is a large and ambitious project across four geographical areas, involving a wide range of service types and communities.

"On average we find that 40-60% of participants have never given time before ... this is having a wide range of positive outcomes particularly around culture change, increased physical activity, mental wellbeing, confidence and community pride."

One service user from Norfolk who has signed up to Upflit says it has made him more "anchored". He says: "It's opened up social avenues – I've now got a group of nodding acquaintances at the gym, which helps you anchor yourself, to anchor your place in society, and your sense of identity."

Spice and the Young Foundation are also working with commissioners, service heads, support workers and service users to see how the idea of time credits can be adopted more widely into their own systems and approaches to work. Russell says: "This can range from large scale service asset mapping to redesigning support working systems, to building co-production into the commissioning process."

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