Our Vision, Mission and Values

Our vision is to relieve the poverty faced by homeless, vulnerable persons in need.

To achieve this we offer accommodation, support and education to all our clients, to empower them to develop the necessary skills which will enable them to live independently.

Our dedicated staff and volunteer’s main objective involves creating a strategy to encourage our clients to take control of their own lives, by increasing self-esteem, improving motivation and raising levels of confidence by offering practical support, advice, assistance, advocacy, representation and counselling. We work closely with a variety of clients with high support needs, such as drug/alcohol dependence, mental health issues, learning difficulties, ex-offenders and entrenched rough sleepers.

Our team is committed to empowering clients, supporting them through their journey and preventing repeat homelessness in the future. We are committed to treating individuals with dignity and respect and we are determined to offer the opportunity and the support necessary to encourage and to enable personal growth and self-development, regardless of gender; marital status; sexual orientation; ethnic origin; religious belief; disability; age or political allegiance.

Our actions are open, accountable and transparent. We take on board feedback and endeavour to continuously evaluate our results and performances as we strive to improve.

Our Progress

The Ashley Foundation was established in September 1997 for the provision of accommodation and support.

Initially, the charity just had 3 hostels, covering 62 beds and 8 self-contained moved on units in Blackpool. Fast forward to 2018 and we are now celebrating our 21st year of operation, having supported over 8000 clients and now with 49 move-on flats in Blackpool, spread over 10 sites and additional homelessness projects across the North of England, such as Blackburn (3 hostels, with 125 beds)  and a 26-bed homeless hostel in Sunderland with 40 additional move-on units.

Back in 1997 we started with just 6 staff and now across our 4 locations we employ over 60 staff in various roles.

How We Work

We understand that it takes more than a roof over someone’s head to end homelessness. People experiencing homelessness often face a number of issues, commonly involving feelings of isolation, mental health problems, and drug or alcohol use. We strive to support people as they take control of their own lives. Our role, is to foster the right environment, so people can bring about their own changes, in their own way. Our approach is underpinned by three values – empowerment, collaboration and integration and these values are similar to those of person-centred, strengths-based and co-production approaches which are achieved by:

  • Placing importance on the service user’s perspective and priorities, as in a person-centred approach
  • Focusing on aspects of life that are going well in addition to areas of difficulty, as in a strengths-based approach
  • The service user is seen as an active agent in their own life and a valuable source of expertise and knowledge rather than a passive sufferer of an affliction that the professional, with their expertise and knowledge, will cure.

How We Are Regulated

In order to achieve our mission of supporting the most vulnerable in society, we offer a number of services. These include accommodation, support, substance use support, mental health advocacy and work, skills and employment training. We also work closely with local government to shape policy and pathways and fundraise to help us carry out our work.

We work closely with the following regulatory bodies;

Charity Commission
The CC regulates our work as a registered charity and ensure that we are transparent and accountable.

Fundraising Regulator
The FR is an independent regulator of charitable fundraising tasked with restoring public trust in fundraising, following the cross-party review of fundraising self-regulation back in 2015

Living Wage Foundation
The LWF are the organisation at the heart of the independent movement of businesses and people that campaign for the idea that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. The LWF celebrate and recognise the leadership of responsible employers who choose to go further and pay a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum.

Information Commissioners Office
The ICO’s role is to uphold information rights in the public interest. The Ashley Foundation handle personal data from clients, supporters, staff and volunteers, so we are registered as a “data controller” with the ICO. We have certain obligations for how we handle personal data, ensuring we keep it safe and only share or use it with permission.

One of our key values is that our work is open, accountable and transparent and we work hard to achieve these values. However, if you feel that the service we have provided has not been to the standard that you would expect, we are always keen to learn from your complaints, suggestions or comments. Please email us at [email protected].