Agenda item
Complex Families
A presentation providing an overview of the Complex Families Project which is being developed by the council and partner agencies will be delivered to the committee by Joanna McCormick (Partnerships Co-ordinator). The aim of the project is to pilot multi agency early intervention with a cohort of families in the borough.
Minutes:
Phil Newby gave an overview of the Complex Families Project being developed by the council and partner agencies aimed at piloting multi agency early intervention with a group of families across the borough. Phil Newby introduced the Troubled Families initiative following on from complex families work as central government’s response to the riots in 2011 looking multiple causes based on families. 152 pilot authorities across the country were taking part, and the council was working with 810 families in Brent on a reward basis. Attention would be focused on crime, school attendance, workless in the family and local concerns. The project was based on the key worker approach used in Hackney which had seen vast improvements. Central government funding would be available to support five out of six families. Jo McCormick (Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement) set out the Brent context referring to levels of child poverty, parents on low incomes and the impact of financial capability and debt on life chances being worsened by increase house price and child care costs and national policy to reduce benefit levels. The risk factors that gave rise to the project included the factors that influence families’ resources currently, and also influence their ability to enter and sustain paid employment and also to escape poverty in the future. These include childcare, health care, job availability, access to services, teenage pregnancy domestic violence and mental health. The project’s approach was to focus on adults knowing that this would impact positively on the children with an innovative use of proactive key workers with consequences for non-compliance and children’s centres for early intervention. A package of support would be available however to ask local authorities to tackle the climate of unemployment was considered to be a significant challenge. Other challenges included capturing savings to reinvest and striking the right balance between incentive and consequence.
Members raised questioned how funding would be identified. Phil Newby responded that there was an assumption of savings, match funding and pulling funding sources together. The committee noted that previously there was strong support from other agencies. Schools were also pooling funding to procure better services. The committee agreed that provision needed to be sustainable starting with early years. The funding was mainly to ensure key workers, many of whom were already in post, were able to work more effectively. It was felt that the biggest risk was the size of the task and the timescales involved. Phil Newby advised that Roger Whitmore had been appointed to head the Trouble Families Unit with the aim of developing social work with key staff who have renewed confidence and skills. Partner agencies would work in a hub to whom social workers could refer families. It was noted however that the on-going re-organisation within the health service and the current demands the Olympics were placing on police time were challenges to the success of these arrangements. Members considered the link between gang membership and troubledfamilies noting that there were common indicators such as low levels of immunisations indicating a lack of care when young, domestic violence and illiteracy. Families were currently being identified.
Members thanked Phil Newby and Jo McCormick for the presentation.