What is Live Well?
From 2024 to 2026, a £1m investment from The National Lottery Community Fund created protected space to test, learn and grow the conditions for community-led prevention across five Live Well Accelerator localities - Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Tameside.
Together, local authorities, voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise organisations, and partners worked in alliance to create the conditions for healthier, more connected neighbourhoods, while contributing to a wider, community-led Live Well movement for change across Greater Manchester.
GM Live Well reimagines health, social and employment support from the ground up – led by communities and enabled by a better connected, and supportive system of public services, focused on reducing inequalities. It's about making sure everyone across Greater Manchester has the support, control, connections and resources they need to be healthy and able to live well.
We will continue to update this web page with more information, as the Live Well work across Rochdale develops and grows.
Additional GM Live Well information
The Live Well movement is powered by investment from Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), National Lottery Community Fund, NHS Greater Manchester (NHS GM) and national government.
GM Live Well is a cornerstone of the 10-year Growth and Prevention Delivery Plan, and the Greater Manchester Strategy, aimed at reducing health, social, and economic inequalities across Greater Manchester. It builds on Greater Manchester’s long-standing commitment to public service reform, with a continued focus on people, place and prevention.
Additional information and resources relating to GM Live Well can also be found from the links below:
Greater Manchester Live Well Podcast series (external website)
Live Well Live Webinars and Resources (external website)
Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership (external website)
Live Well in Rochdale
In 2023, Rochdale became one of five Live Well Accelerator sites.
Through our Anti-Poverty Strategy, Rochdale recognised the link between poverty and poor health and wellbeing outcomes - and so the Live Well work in Rochdale centred on how we could use this anti-poverty work to shift power and decision-making to ensure communities are working alongside those with positional power.
At its core is our Anti-Poverty Foundation Group: paid community leaders with lived experience, driving change alongside system leaders to influence strategy, embed community-led decision-making, and redirect funding towards prevention.
A Live Well Alliance was forged between Deeplish Community Centre, Awakening Minds, Aspire 2 Inspire Communities, Watering Your Soul CIC, The Lighthouse Project, Citizens Advice, Maverick Lab CIC, Independent Poverty Activist, Action Together and Rochdale Borough Council.
Mobilising energy and people
- We gathered interest and allyship of key system leaders
- Recruited a community-led Anti-Poverty Foundation Group (APFG) of VCFSE and community leaders, using a supportive and person-centered process to lead the decision-making, governance and accountability of anti-poverty work in Rochdale
- Recruited a ‘Power Growers’ group of system leaders and colleagues to participate in peer action learning around power shifting
- Recruited a skilled, empathetic facilitator with a dedicated role to support both spaces
Growing collective power
- Facilitated co-created sessions to nurture relationships, trust and empathy, and clarify a shared purpose
- Secured permissions and payment for participation
- Over time, brought different groups together to work on a project or a plan
Reshaping decision-making
- Anti-Poverty Foundation Group influenced the Household Support Fund, increasing investment upstream/to VCFSE
- Made poverty a priority in ICPC 5-year strategy, included in APFG’s words - ensuring accountability and resources
- Formalised new power in governance arrangements: renamed the council’s anti-poverty space, began co-chairing, and created terms of reference cementing the leadership role of APFG
- Co-designed ideas for investment to address gaps in Rochdale relating to poverty
The Live Well work in Rochdale continues to focus on working to change the way the council, partners, and the community work together to make better decisions for people, reimagining and shifting power, governance and accountability around the borough’s anti-poverty strategy.
Stories of success in Rochdale
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Anti-Poverty Foundation Group acknowledged in parliament
Our Systems Change work in Rochdale received national recognition at the end of 2025 as MP for Rochdale, Paul Waugh, spoke in the House of Commons about the Budget, the planned abolishment of the two-child benefit cap in April 2026, and its direct impact on the communities in Rochdale.
We’re proud that the efforts of our Systems Change team, and the forums they facilitate, are helping to build a direct link to those influencing policy and driving decisions - ensuring our sector’s voice is heard.
Live Well Summits
In June 2025 we held our first Rochdale Live Well Summit, welcoming attendees from across the sector, along with local public sector partners.
We outlined the purpose of Live Well, the four key pillars, the neighbourhood model, and involved everyone in an exercise to think about 'The Garden of Rochdale' - What is flourishing? What needs weeding out? What should we be planting?
The following slides explain further:
January 2026 saw our second Summit, where we reflected on the outcomes and delved further into the community-led plan for Live Well in Rochdale, and the investment around it.
The following slides explain further:
Rochdale Neighbourhood Model
Community-led, System Enabled
We recognise that our communities know best what they need, and as a system our role is to enable them to achieve their aims
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Live Well Leadership Collaborative
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