Homelessness in Westminster: A PEST Analysis Report

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

Health Care Environment
1

Executive summary
The study defined PEST analysis and used this framework to find out some external factors.
Some political factors, which may become positive or negative, were found. Other factors related
to economical condition of people, social issues were found. Some of them were proved to be
advantageous and some were highlighted as major disadvantage. A discussion in details of two
major factors was given. It was found that majority of society has a negative conception towards
homeless. In last section, some suggestions were provided. These suggestions were given to
mitigate issues relating to homelessness, trafficking and prostitution. Women@thewell could be
successful from flowing this.
2

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Main body........................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
Reference list.................................................................................................................................17
3

Introduction
This study will analyse rough sleeping in UK. This will consider giving some reasons for
opening up a new centre for Women@thewell. This will be for homeless rough sleeper women.
Therefore, some external factors will be analysed for chosen borough. This will identify five
points for each factor. Then five recommendations will be provided for Women@thewell. They
are a charity organisations dedicated to service women. The organisation is situated in Kings
Cross, UK. Most women who are affected by drug abuse, rough sleeping and trafficking. The
borough chosen is Westminster, as it has high number of homelessness (watw.org.uk, 2019).
4

Main body
Perform a PEST analysis on your chosen inner London borough to explore the viability of opening
a new Women@thewell in the area.
A PEST analysis consists of some factors, which makes up this framework. It is a tool to track
environmental factors like social, political, economical, and technological. This framework is
used to assess threats and opportunities regarding these four factors.
Women@thewell is a charity organisations dedicated to serve women, who are suffering from
drug abuse, homelessness and trafficking. They provide support for women to help them
overcome these problems.
Elements Factors
Political  Presently Conservative party is ruling in Westminster. They are a
centre-right aligned party.
 Electoral reform society published a report, where there 67 percent
people has said that they do not have any opportunity to influence
decisions made by parliament members of Westminster
(democraticaudit.com, 2019).
 Only 28 percent people have voted for Conservative party. They have
lost numerous amounts of votes from 2015 (bbc.com, 2019).
 Westminster council is blamed for boarding areas up
(theguardian.com, 2019).
 Westminster has been declared by homeless capital in UK
(mirror.co.uk, 2019). They have started a rough sleeper project. It is
following “The homelessness reduction act”.
Economical  Gross domestic household income of Westminster has reached to
12,319 million pounds (ons.gov.uk, 2019). The growth of GDHI has
been 0.5 percent. Although GDHI per head has been decreased about
1.2 percent.
 Westminster has least affordable price for buying a house. It is said
that house prices are 24 times than average salary of a person. Rent for
5

houses are about 2000 pounds per month. It makes difficult for people
to purchase houses (Marsden, 2015).
 Child poverty rate is high in Westminster. More than 38 percent
children are living in poverty (trustforlondon.org.uk, 2019).
 There is a huge amount of income inequality.
 Poverty rate is 30.36 percent in 2017 (trustforlondon.org.uk, 2019).
Social  More than 400 women were involved in prostitution in Westminster.
They were working near parliament (thesun.co.uk, 2018).
 About 17 percent of rough sleepers in Westminster are women
(westminster.gov.uk, 2019).
 A debate in Westminster pointed out that many crime gangs make
millions of pounds by trafficking in Westminster.
 Only 4 percent people, who are considered richest in Westminster has
donated to rough sleeping issues, which is a minor amount of 603,009
Euros (care.org.uk, 2019).
 Ministers are making homelessness normalised (theguardian.com,
2019).
Technologica
l
 There are many technologies, which are used by various organisations
in Westminster to tackle homelessness (Clapson, 2016).
 Westminster government is adapting a digital technology. They are
looking to enable e-government strategy.
 Advancement in communication technology has helped in
collaboration between Westminster police to stop trafficking (Foot,
2015).
 Advancement in technology has given strength to criminal groups,
which is helping them in human and organ trafficking (Van Dyke,
2017).
 Technology is being used by many organisations to provide security to
homeless people.
6

Table 1: PEST analysis of Westminster
Political
Conservative party has lost their popularity in recent times. Most people believe that the party is
not concerned with well being of common people. Therefore, their vote has decreased in huge
level from 2015. Therefore, people are not having much faith on this government. A homeless
person has said that authority has claimed that rough sleepers are participating in anti social
activities. The council has said that this is their measure for deterring rough sleepers in public
spaces. Ian Adams, who is cabinet minister in charge of public safety, has claimed that local
residents have complained about feeling unsafe. Local residents said that they feel unsafe around
homeless people. Ian Adams claimed that this is a temporary measure. According to CPN from
police, rough sleepers will have to pay amount of 20000 Euros for sleeping in public places. This
criminalises begging as well as rough sleeping.
A rough sleeper was threatened for begging and another person was given warning for loitering.
Police under terror code searched these people. Therefore, a situation is present where an
institution like Women@thewell may face difficulties for opening a new centre in Westminster,
as clash between government and this organisation can occur. Therefore, these factors are
definitely positive for this organisation to open up a new centre. However, the government has
started a rough sleeper project, which is aimed to solve this issue by 2022. Women@thewell can
get assistance from government and may include them to open this new centre. Westminster is
branded as a capital for homeless people.
The huge number of homeless people is an alarming issue. “The homelessness reduction act”
came into action in April of 2018. This law is made for preventing homelessness. It states rights
for people, who are homeless or may be threatened with homelessness. Help is available for care
leavers, people who are leaving prison, people having mental health problems and women who
are suffering from domestic violence. According to this rule by Westminster government, people
who are threatened for homelessness within 56 days can opt for prevention duty. Therefore, it is
creating an environment where help is being given. Women@thewell have this opportunity to
join hands with this government to participate in this prevention activity.
Economical
7

GDHI has been growing in Westminster. This proves that economic condition of this borough is
quite good. GDHI has although decreased, which says that some people have become poorer.
There is a chance that donation for homeless people may become difficult to manage, as people
will not have enough income to spend for causes like this (ons.gov.uk, 2019). This will become
negative impact, as the institution may find it difficult to gather funds for charity work.
Poverty rate has become high, which can cause more homelessness. Due to high prices for
purchasing homes and huge amount of rent, it will be difficult for poor people to sustain. They
may soon become homeless in future, which will include women too (trustforlondon.org.uk,
2019). Therefore, it will become necessary for Women@thewell to start a centre, as government
is not much involved to solve this problem. This particular factor can have a positive impact on
this institution, as setting up a drop in facility will become invaluable.
Social
Many women were involved in prostitution in Westminster. This rate is growing each day. It
was very surprising that the racket was near parliament of Westminster. This shows ignorance of
the government. Therefore, it has become necessary for nongovernmental charity organisations
to involve themselves in it. Women@thewell may have opportunity to open up a centre in
Westminster to help these women. They can find ways to make them exit from prostitution by
reaching them for support. Due to continuous suffering of these women, it is essential to give
them support. There are many rough sleepers, who are women. These women are facing daily
harassment from authority of Westminster.
Many women have said that they have faced sexual harassment from people. They have no
security and living condition is becoming very poor. In this situation, opportunity for
Women@thewell is present for opening up a centre in Westminster. In this way, the organisation
can reach to these homeless women and save them from being harassed. They can provide a
better living opportunity for them. Therefore, this factor is a positive impact on Women@thewell
for setting up a centre. It was found that rate of trafficking of women in Westminster is high.
There are many women, who are being targeted by criminal gangs. This institute can give them
necessary support to ensure their protection from hands of these criminal gangs. However, the
organisation may have to face threat from criminal gangs, as they are directly interfering in their
8

racket operation. Therefore, it can become a negative impact on this organisation. Therefore,
solution of this problem is not provided. It can make situation difficult for Women@thewell, as
they may not have enough donation from people. Impact of this factor will be negative for their
success.
Another main problem is that ministers are making issue of homelessness normalised. Mark
Field, who called a homelessness charity “magnet for undesirables”, was suspended for showing
this attitude. Many households claimed that they have faced problem while taking their children
to school, as homeless people have been discussing lewd topics. Therefore, a general hatred is
being spewed towards homeless people, which can make their living dreadful. Some residents
have said that these homeless people are associated with drug dealing and many other heinous
crimes. They have complained that their local area is not safe due to these people. Therefore,
generalisation of this conception has channelized inside people’s mind. Therefore, there is an
impending danger on this homeless people, especially women.
Technological
Westminster government is adapting digital technology in recent times. This will give more
opportunity to them to connect with various charities, who are involved in developing a better
life for homeless women. This factor can become positive if Women@thewell can connect with
Westminster government. This may lead to great collaboration and the government may be able
to understand the depth of this problem of homelessness from expert advice.
Criminal groups are exploiting the strength of technology. They are using it to track down
female victims to kidnap them. They can easily monitor their activity and attack them when they
are alone. These groups provide challenge to organisations like Women@thewell (Van Dyke,
2017). These criminal groups try to make surviving difficult for charity organisations like this.
They provide constant threat to members of these organisations often. This factor related to these
women traffickers can be a negative impact.
It is your role to make recommendations about the possible opening of a new Women@thewell
centre (should it open or not) and recommend what it should be like if it were to open.
9

The degrading condition of homeless women in Westminster has become a major issue. There
has been duality in their nature for a long time. They have promised to help homeless people, yet
they have been using police to drive them away from their home. Therefore, effectiveness of
their policies regarding homelessness prevention is not working, as it should. Other crisis such as
women trafficking is a prevalent issue. This situation makes it necessary for Women@thewell to
intervene. They have proper opportunity to help these women, who are rough sleepers and
facing trafficking. They can provide support to make them exit from prostitution
(theguardian.com, 2016).
Women@thewell will face difficulties for generating fund for their charity work in Westminster.
This is due to ignorant nature of rich people of Westminster. Therefore, they will have to
generate consciousness amongst people. For this, they will have to indulge in some activities to
promote their motive. They should create a message and highlight their motto clearly. It should
indicate the sorrow of homeless people and their miserable living condition. It should be made
clear that homeless people are not harmful. They can bring out examples of homeless people,
who are good human beings to present it to other people. Problems of homeless women should
be made clear to people so that they come forward for donation and support (independent.co.uk,
2019).
Women@thewell will face problems for Westminster government. An intervention of a charity
organisation can point out many loopholes inside system of government. Therefore, the
government may not let them open up a centre. This problem can be solved if the organisation
communicates with government and clear their motives properly. . In any case, the government
is resistant to let them open up drop in service centre; they can bring this factor into attention of
media. This will create an external pressure on government and they might have to back down
from being resistant. Therefore, if they can plan their strategy beforehand, then they will be able
to mitigate this problem. In case everything fails, they can opt for legal help. This will bring this
matter into attention of global media and government may ease their resistance. The best way is
to communicate with government to solve this issue (Watts and Fitzpatrick, 2017).
Many criminal gangs are involved in women trafficking. Therefore, Women@thewell will have
to be careful during their operations. Women who are being held captives will be difficult to
save. They will have to take help from local police for doing this kind of work. They should not
10

take this kind of matter in their own hand and ask for help from police. They will have to
ensure safety of those women first. These gangs may be displeased towards this institute and
may try to take revenge. Therefore, additional safety should be added to them. They can hire
extra number of guards and add surveillance in their drop in facility home. Therefore, they
should take help of professional agencies, who provides security (Ortmeier, 2017).
Recent declaration regarding implementation of “Homelessness reduction act” will give
opportunity to Women@thewell for helping homeless women. This act ensures that homeless
people are taken care of. The organisation can use this opportunity to collaborate with
government to help homeless women. This will align objective of both these organisations,
which will be better for homeless people. This can make their image positive in eyes of
government and chances for collaboration may increase (Hunter, 2016).
Huge number of women in Westminster has to choose prostitution as their way to make ends
meet. Therefore, Women@thewell should find out alternative options for them. They should
approach these women and try to understand their psychology. As it is a sensitive matter, the
organisations should talk with these women. They should show them alternative ways to earn. It
will be not enough to provide alternative solution. The organisation should ensure that these
women have proper education to get a job. In case if any woman lacks education, then the
organisation should find ways to provide education to this woman (Coy, 2017).
11

Conclusion
Definition of PEST analysis was given. After performing an external analysis, it was found that
some factors are present, which can make it difficult for them to open a centre in Westminster.
The government wants to get rid of homeless people and this is a first barrier. It can be difficult
to tackle criminal gangs to save women from trafficking. It is difficult to get donation at
Westminster by Women@thewell, as people are not concerned about wellbeing of homeless
women. Police has shown brutality towards these people. Ultimately, five suggestions were
provided to mitigate these problems and to ensure success of Women@thewell.
12