The Hoarding Taskforce was established as a multidisciplinary working group in 2024 in Scotland. It aims to explore and develop a more joined-up multi-agency approach to improve support for people with problematic hoarding behaviours, recognising this as a hidden, and often misunderstood mental health issue.
The Taskforce’s ambition is to better manage risk, keep people safe and make more effective use of limited resources, adopting a life-span approach. It recognises that: problematic hoarding behaviour isn’t an adult only issue; that practitioners need help in building skills and confidence; that we need to listen and learn from experts by experience and tackle stigma
Taskforce members include a mix of different strategic partners, people who hoard, and three local area partnerships:
A full list of membership and the Terms of Reference can be found in the Hoarding Taskforce introductory PDF.
In our first year (2024-5) we have:
- Run three multi-disciplinary stakeholder events to explore the issue in context
- Run webinars during hoarding awareness week
- Conducted an audit of resources currently used
Looking forward, we will:
- Publish an Iriss Insight, drawing out implications for the workforce from the evidence
- Share stories of innovation to showcase better ways to support people that champion earlier intervention, longer-term, person-centred and trauma-informed approaches (and new versions of what ‘good’ looks like)
In 2025-6 we will:
- Work with Taskforce members to identify our next steps together
