Government launches Supporting Families programme and scraps 'troubled families' name

The Supporting Families programme is backed by £165m and will retain many of the aims of the Troubled Families programme, including work to support people to leave abusive relationships, get the right joined-up support for those with mental health issues and help the long-term unemployed back into work.

• In depth: Early help special report policy overview

• Analysis: Troubled Families programme and what should replace it

Through the programme, 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.

The Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government said a key focus of the Supporting Families programme will be to help councils improve their use of data to support families. To that end, it is launching the Data Accelerator Fund, which will enable councils to bid for a share of £7.9m in data projects over two years.

Making the announcement, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said the programme is a critical part of “our moral mission” to tackle intergenerational unemployment, crime, domestic abuse and family breakdown.

“As we come out of the Covid-19 pandemic it is more important than ever we support families,” Jenrick added.

“The last year has shown what can be achieved if different agencies act as one and wrap their arms around the most vulnerable. That is the objective of Supporting Families, the renewed programme to turn around lives and help families to achieve their potential.”

Launched in 2012, the Troubled Families programme was immediately controversial – for its name, payment-by-results funding system, and how successful outcomes were measured. It was backed with nearly £800m of public money over two rounds of funding. The first phase saw £400m spent on supporting 120,000 families, while the second phase, covering 2015-21, expanded the range of families that could receive help to up to 400,000.

According to the Troubled Families programme last annual report, since 2015 more than 400,000 vulnerable families had their lives “turned around” thanks to the programme and 870,000 families have been worked with. It states the programme has saved money, reduced children going into care and cut the number of adults ending up in prison.

Charlotte Ramsden, vice president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, welcomed the announcement and “much needed extra investment it will bring”.

“The funding from this programme has been a vital part of the early help offer for a majority of local authorities and its continuation will undoubtedly help improve the lives of many children and families,” she said.

“We know that the reasons why children come to the attention of early help services are largely due to adults experiencing domestic abuse, mental health difficulties or substance misuse. The pandemic will unfortunately have had a negative impact on these issues and local authorities are now supporting more new families as a result.

“We hope that the programme’s new, and very welcome, emphasis on supporting families is the beginning of a long-term commitment by government. One that has at its heart early help, relationship-based practice and a holistic focus on a child’s lived experience, within their family and within their community which would undoubtedly changes lives.”

The government has also published research on a £9.5m Supporting Families Against Youth Violence fund, which supported 21 areas to run projects combatting knife crime between 2018 and 2020. The research showed that whole-family approaches were seen as effective in preventing youth crime.