The Government has recently announced the next phase of £165 million programme for vulnerable families. The newly named Supporting Families programme will support some of the most vulnerable families in society as follows:
- Successful programme to support vulnerable families launches its next phase, backed by £165 million in funding for 2021 to 2022.
- Over 400,000 vulnerable families supported to build brighter futures since 2015.
- Number of children going into care reduced through the programme, and the number of adults going to prison.
- New additional £7.9 million fund launched to improve how councils use data to support families, including by providing key workers with the information that they need.
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 while reducing costs of services for the taxpayer – 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.
Cheshire West & Chester Council was one of the pilot areas under the Community Budgets project from 2012 and has continued to benefit families in our borough ever since, despite an attempt by Labour locally to end the programme in 2013.
Whilst the name of the programme has changed over the years, from Troubled Families, to Vulnerable Families, to Supporting Families, this is a noble programme that is making a real difference to the lives of many across the country.
