UK partnership walks away with award
Rock Trust and our Upstream partners from around the UK came away as winners at the Homeless Link Excellence Awards 2026 in Nottingham. The Successful Partnerships Award came in recognition of the four-nation initiative’s innovative prevention approach to youth homelessness.
Upstream UK is chaired by Llamau and delivered in partnership with Centrepoint, The Rock Trust and MACS NI. Working across Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, it helps identify risk early, strengthen family relationships and prevent homelessness long before a young person reaches crisis.
The programme operates within secondary schools, using a universal digital screening tool to identify hidden risk early. This approach often identifies key risks long before teachers are aware or young people have sought any support. Every pupil completes the survey, giving young people a safe, non-stigmatising way to share concerns about family stress, housing worries and wellbeing. When risk is identified, tailored support follows: mentoring, family mediation, wellbeing support and conflict resolution, delivered in partnership with local organisations.
“The results speak for themselves. Across the UK, 98% of young people supported through Upstream have remained safely at home. That's what happens when you stop waiting for young people to reach crisis and start reaching them where they are, in school, before things fall apart.” Alistair MacDermid, Head of Services
Homelessness prevention initiative Upstream wins Excellence Award for Best Partnership
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A scalable homelessness prevention model
In just over four years, the programme has grown from a single school in Wales to 37 schools across the UK. The results are consistent: 98% of young people supported through Upstream have remained safely at home, and 85% of families have achieved personal wellbeing goals including improved communication, reduced conflict and stronger relationships.
This demonstrates the power of early, relationship–centred intervention delivered through genuine collaboration.
Alistair MacDermid, Head of Services at Rock Trust, said: “This award means a great deal to everyone who has worked on Upstream across all four nations. What Llamau, Centrepoint, MACS NI and Rock Trust have built together isn’t just a programme running in parallel in different places; it’s one shared model, one evidence base, one set of standards, delivered consistently from Wales to Scotland to England to Northern Ireland.
“The results speak for themselves. Across the UK, 98% of young people supported through Upstream have remained safely at home. That’s what happens when you stop waiting for young people to reach crisis and start reaching them where they are, in school, before things fall apart.”
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Upstream works in schools to deliver a universal survey that can help identify young people at risk of homelessness before they hit crisis point.
