£750,000 to tackle gambling-related harm in the North East

The Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) for the North East has successfully bid for £750,000 from the Gambling Commission's Regulatory Settlements Fund to develop a regional three-year pilot programme dedicated to exploring effective ways to reduce the harm caused by gambling.

Gambling-related harms can have a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities, and society. They can cause loss of employment, debt, crime, breakdown of relationships and deterioration of physical and mental health. At its worst, gambling can contribute to loss of life through suicide.

Harms can be experienced not just by gamblers themselves. They can also affect their children, partners, wider families and social networks, employers, communities and society as a whole.

The funding will be used to develop new ways of supporting those affected. This could include the development of awareness campaigns, training resources for staff or new ways to refer people for treatment. People who have experienced gambling harms will be involved in the development of the programme, and their experiences will help to shape the support on offer.

Amanda Healy, director of Public Health at Durham County Council and chair for ADPH North East, said: "Evidence has shown the North East has higher rates of gambling-related harms than any other region, so we welcome this funding which will enable us to help our most affected communities in the best possible way.

"We are looking forward to working with like-minded partners across the region and are grateful for their support in developing the programme."

Part of the funding will be used to independently evaluate the programme. The evaluation work will be led by researchers from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria.

The research will include working with people who have experienced gambling-related issues and measuring the impact of the programme on harm reduction, harm prevention and improvement in health and wellbeing.