Medway’s Troubled Families programme named best in South East
Fiona Simpson
Monday, June 15, 2020
Medway Council’s Troubled Families programme is the best performing in the South East, according to latest government rankings.
The programme has helped support 2,060 families over the last five years, the council says.
It has now been named best performing out of 17 similar projects run across the South East by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The government-funded programme aims to help troubled families using targeted interventions with a whole family approach to avoid more expensive interventions later on, the council said.
Problems faced by families on the programme include children in need of help, crime and anti-social behaviour, domestic abuse, mental health issues, educational risk, financial exclusion and unemployment.
Medway delivers a joined-up approach, with a single key worker assigned to each family, backed by multi-agency partners including health and education providers with support from the Department of Work and Pensions.
“The means local agencies can work with whole families to tackle the wide range of issues they may face, providing them with 'wrap-around' support. The key workers are highly trained and come from a number of agencies to enable the best results for Medway families,” the council said.
Councillor Josie Iles, Medway Council’s lead member for children’s services, said: “Helping the most vulnerable families in Medway make positive changes to turn their lives around is one of the most rewarding things a council can do. These excellent results are testament to the huge amount of hard work our teams invest in the families in this programme. We will continue to work closely with partner agencies to ensure we continue to see these inspiring outcomes.
“The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has affected all of our lives, but it has had a particularly profound effect on many of the families we support. We will continue to work with, and support, families across Medway and I would like to thank our early help transformation Team for their continued hard work, especially with how they have overcome the challenges posed by lockdown. I would also like to thank all of our children’s services teams, and partner agencies, who continue to support families across Medway.”