To receive a presentation on the progress made in delivering the Families First Programme.  

94.1           Members were informed that Families First was the local name for the national troubled families programme and Gloucestershire had been one of the first localities to meet its targets and broaden out to become Families First Plus.   Unfortunately, the Council’s Community Development Officer who had been due to present the report had been called away at short notice so Helen Hayes, Manager for Stroud and Forest of Dean, and Fiona Ching from the County Team who specialised in employment advice, had attended the meeting to provide a six month progress update.

94.2              The following key points were raised during the presentation:

·      Recap – Families First was originally a three year programme, starting in 2012, aimed at turning around the lives of an estimated 120,000 troubled families in the country, 900 in Gloucestershire and 90 in Tewkesbury Borough; original criteria: adult on out of work benefit, children not attending school, family members involved in crime and anti-social behaviour i.e. high cost to the public purse; local discretion would include other issues such as mental health, drugs and alcohol misuse and domestic abuse.

·      Aim of the Programme – To get children back into school, reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour, put adults on a path back to work and bring down the amount public services currently spent on them; over time, to change the way services were delivered – re-designing them for the longer term.

·      Progress to Date – By the end of phase 1, over 900 families were engaged by intensive key workers and had commissioned services of existing agencies; 100% of families had achieved outcomes; 825 families had achieved the crime/education result, 75 families had achieved the employment result and 59 families had achieved the progress to work result; as a high performing area, Gloucestershire had been entered into phase 2 of the expanded programme early.

·      Expanded Troubled Families Programme – Five year programme from 2015/16 with funding for the first year; additional 3,000 families for Gloucestershire; getting to a much wider group of families with multiple problems; greater flexibility to decide which families to work with but must prioritise highest need; payment by results based on ‘sustained and significant progress’; local authority to produce a ‘Troubled Families Outcomes Plan’ against which to measure progress.

·      Criteria for the Expanded Programme – Parents and children involved in crime or anti-social behaviour; children not attending school, children who needed help e.g. young carers; adults out of work or at risk of financial exclusion and young people at risk of worklessness; families affected by domestic violence and abuse; parents and children with a range of health problems including mental health.

·      Becoming ‘Business As Usual’ – Developing early help and targeted support; bringing together Targeted Support teams and Families First to create Families First Plus; development of Early Help partnership - Tewkesbury was the pilot.

·      Working in Tewkesbury – Locality Partnership Group: health, education, Police, probation, Council Services, housing, mental health, domestic abuse, substance misuse, Department of Work and Pensions, voluntary and community sector representation; Early Help Hub Allocations – Advice, Information, Support and Targeted Support e.g. family support, community support.

·      Tewkesbury Families First Plus Team – Team Manager, Emma Trigwell; Assistant Team Manager, Rachel Shore-Nye; Community Social Worker, Isobel Nelson;  Early Help Coordinators, Theresa Brown, Karen James; Family Support Workers, Hannah Oakshott, Lucy Holford, Susan Hatch, Kevan Consterdine; Social Work Student, Stephanie Hunt; Administrator Support, Susan Pope.

94.3           Members were provided with some case studies of families who had successfully used the Families First Plus programme.

94.4           A Member raised concern that he had been a Borough Councillor for Tewkesbury Prior’s Park Ward for almost 12 months but had not had any contact with the Families First Plus team.  The representatives from Families First Plus apologised for this oversight but provided assurance that partnership working was ongoing.  Members were advised that there were a number of ways that they could contact the Families First Plus team; the wider Locality Partnership Group included Council Officers, and was chaired by the Deputy Chief Executive, who would be happy to direct any issues.

94.5           A Member noted that the programme was based on ‘payment by results’ and she questioned how this would be impacted by the target number of families in Tewkesbury Borough being increased from 90 in phase 1 to 900 in phase 2.  Members were advised that, from the employment advice perspective, it was about training lead professionals to talk about employment and giving them the confidence and knowledge to discuss this with families and individuals.  The main thrust of the programme was reducing the number of professionals involved with a family which could be quite a challenge; in one case there had been found to be 36 different professionals involved with one particular family.  Moving forward it was critical to ensure that this became a normal way of working as opposed to an add-on to existing services.  The Deputy Chief Executive indicated that the way in which the Council Offices building was used was very powerful, and one of the reasons why Families First had been so successful; by having several agencies located under one roof there was easy access to other Officers who were able to work together to fully investigate each case.  A Member questioned how mental health was monitored and was informed that successful management included medication or joining a specialist programme.  In response to a query, assurance was provided that Families First Plus worked closely with Green Square and Gloucestershire First.   A Member questioned whether any work was undertaken with travellers, particularly in terms of school attendance, and he was advised that this was a sensitive issue but the main focus was on ensuring that children received some education and the team often worked with the Prince’s Trust in that regard.

94.6           The Chair thanked the representatives from Families First Plus for their informative presentation and congratulated them on the success of the programme to date.  It was

RESOLVED          That the update on the Gloucestershire Families First Plus programme be NOTED.