Tameside homelessness worker honoured for transforming more than 100 Lives

A Tameside homelessness worker has been recognised for his exceptional commitment after helping more than 100 people move off the streets and into stable accommodation in just the past year.

Tom Butterworth, Tameside Council’s Rough Sleeper Co-ordinator, received the Trust Award at the authority’s inaugural STRIVE Awards, held at Dukinfield Town Hall on Thursday 27 November.

Tom, described by colleagues as “a wonderful member of staff”, has been praised for his compassionate, person-centred approach. His work focuses on preventing anyone from having to sleep rough and ensuring that, when it does occur, it is rare, brief and non-recurring.

Over the last year Tom has overseen individuals moving directly from the streets into homes, as well as supporting people from emergency accommodation into places of their own. Council data shows that Tameside is reducing homelessness, including long-term and repeat rough sleeping, bucking national trends.

The STRIVE Awards, sponsored by Liberata, Hive Land and Planning, Constellia, Placecube, Robertson, The MJ, Amazon Web Services and Penna, celebrate staff who embody the Council’s core values: Support, Trust, Respect, Integrity, Value Diversity and Engage. An overall STRIVE award and a place-based award inspired by Tameside’s motto Industry and Integrity were also presented to recognise work that makes a meaningful difference to local residents.

Nearly 500 peer-to-peer nominations were received, highlighting exceptional contributions across the workforce and wider community.

This year’s winners were:

Support: Tameside Carers Centre

Trust: Tom Butterworth, Rough Sleepers Team

Respect: Lorraine Kitching, Corporate Performance and Intelligence Team

Integrity: The Registrars Team

Value Diversity: Joanne Spurgeon, Employment and Skills Team

Engage: Ayeesha Roberts and Carol Baguley, Public Health Community Engagement Team

Place-based Award: Greenspace Team

Overall STRIVE Award: Chairs of the Council’s Employee Networks

Cllr Eleanor Wills, Tameside Council’s Executive Leader, praised Tom and all the winners for their commitment to the borough.

She said: “Well done to Tom for his remarkable achievements, which are transforming lives across Tameside. And congratulations to not only all the winners, who each had fantastic success stories on their support to communities around the borough, but to everyone shortlisted and nominated. It shows the depth of appreciation and support for each other’s work that runs throughout the Council.

“These awards are driven by the STRIVE values that are at the heart of everything we do, and they celebrate the people and teams who bring these values to life. They play a key role in maintaining our culture of recognition, appreciation and pride in who we are and what we do.

“I’d like to thank the organisers, and everyone involved, for co-ordinating the awards, and our brilliant sponsors whose generosity enabled us to celebrate our colleagues’ achievements.”