Last week, the government announced the next phase of its flagship programme to support vulnerable families in society, backed by £165 million, which will help bring about lasting change to many more lives.
The newly named ‘Supporting Families’ programme, previously known as the ‘Troubled Families’ programme, includes work to support people to leave abusive relationships, get the right joined-up support for those with mental health issues and help people to find work – all part of the government’s comprehensive programme of work to support and unite communities. Through the programme, which began in 2012 – families are assigned a dedicated keyworker, who works with every member of the family and brings local services together to resolve issues at an early stage, before they develop into more significant problems.
Since 2015, over 400,000 vulnerable families have received support to help them turn their lives around and build brighter futures, and over 870,000 families have benefited from the programme’s ‘whole family’ approach to tackling problems. The programme has delivered significant results with the proportion of children supported by the programme going into care reduced by a third and the proportion of adults going to prison reduced by a quarter.
Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire, commented:
Throughout the course of the pandemic, we have seen what can be achieved when government, local authorities and agencies work together to support some of the most vulnerable families in our communities. The next phase of the government's newly renamed Supporting Families programme will continue this important work, backed by £165 million in 2021-22.
This will help families with multiple complex problems to overcome difficulties as early as possible, as part of our mission to tackle intergenerational unemployment, crime, domestic abuse and family breakdown. Since 2015, over 870,000 families have benefited from the programme’s ‘whole family’ approach to tackling problems.
As we recover from the pandemic, it is more important than ever that we stand behind the most vulnerable families in our society.
During the pandemic, services funded by the programme played a vital role in helping families, providing access to food and equipment for children home learning. To continue to build relationships and ensure families were supported during lockdown, local areas introduced virtual meetups and garden or doorstep visits, within the social distancing guidelines and restrictions.
Building stronger data is key focus of the next phase of the programme, and the government also announced the launch of a new Data Accelerator Fund, given £7.9 million in additional funding, to improve how councils use data to support vulnerable families. This includes identifying families that need support and helping frontline workers get the information they need. Councils will be able to bid for this funding, split over two years, to set up new data projects.
