GamCare targets universal access to support and treatment in three-year strategy

Covering the period from 2021 to 2024, the strategy identifies four key strategic ambitions that GamCare will work towards during the three-year period.

These include ensuring gambling harms are widely recognised and prevented across Great Britain, whereby GamCare will raise awareness of such issues to help people seek support, as well as identify needs to understand who needs help and train more people to deliver support and treatment.

GamCare will also work to ensure its own work is trusted, valued and effective for people by supporting staff in their development, using and sharing data to support sector learning, maintaining processes that assure quality and performance, and build partnerships to support its aim.

The charity will also continue its work to ensure there is universal access to effective tools and support by improving its processes to make them more available to people. GamCare also said it will continue to collaborate with people with lived experience of gambling harm to enhance its offering.

In addition, GamCare is targeting universal access to evidence-led and integrated treatment for those suffering with gambling-related harm. This will include expanding treatment in all areas of Britain, integrating treatment pathways to offer a seamless experience to users and pioneering new treatment to support people moving forward.

“Over the next three years, we want to put gambling harms on the map and ensure more people know about them,” GamCarechief executive Anna Hemmings said. “We will expand our services to make lasting and positive changes to those harmed by gambling.”

GamCare said the new strategy builds on its achievements of the past three years, during which it said it supported more than 100,000 people harmed by gambling via its helpline, chat rooms and treatment services. 

The charity also said it had stepped up both its treatment and training services, delivering treatment provision in 161 locations across Great Britain and training 23,732 professionals across to identify and support people impacted by gambling harm.

In terms of how it will achieve its core strategic aims, GamCare said it plans to invest more and expand its services to make lasting and positive changes for its users, with the charity saying that this will also help it navigate the changing regulatory landscape following the Gambling Act Review. 

GamCare added that it intends to increase its collaborative work with stakeholders who have an interest in reducing harms caused by gambling in Britain.

Publication of the new strategy comes after GamCare last month released data indicating that 71% of under-18s that contacted its National Gambling Helpline in the last three years did so because of their own gambling activities.

Gamcare’s user data also revealed that 20% of under-18s that contacted its services had concerns for family or friends, with 8.5% considered “at risk” of irresponsible gambling.