Agenda item

Jenny Lingrell to report

Jenny Lingrell, Troubled Families Co-ordinator, reported that since the previous report in May, 2014, an additional payment by results claim had been submitted and further information published regarding the expansion of the programme.

Rotherham had submitted 5 payment by results claims (July and October, 2013, February, May and August, 2014) for families who had achieved the outcomes set out in the Troubled Families Financial Framework.

An outcome was achieved if school attendance for all children in the family had increased to more than 85% and had been sustained across 3 school terms.  It was also possible to claim an outcome for school leavers; the improvement needed to have been achieved in conjunction with a sustained reduction in involvement in crime or anti-social behaviour.

An additional payment was available where an adult family member had engaged with Employment Support (Wiseability) or the Work Programme.  If they had entered or sustained employment for a period of 6 months it was possible to claim an outcome regardless of the progress in relation to attendance and anti-social behaviour.

The total outcome achieved so far represented 64.7% of the total cohort ‘turned around’.  The trajectory for Payment by Results claims remained above the projected outcomes and on target to claim 730 outcomes by May, 2015, despite the complexities associated with families who had an inter-generational history of dysfunction.

Partnership arrangements were working well particularly with South Yorkshire Police.  A single point of contact had been established to enable information sharing on a family by family basis where needed.  A review of the Police and Young Peoples’ Partnership Officer had been completed and new management arrangements would become operational in September, 2014.

Capacity to deliver the role of lead worker for the Family Common Assessment Framework remained an issue.  There was often reluctance to take on the role particularly from some schools and health providers.  A proposal to inject extra capacity to deliver the leadworker role would be considered by chief officers in October.

Despite significant effort to join up employment support provision and the work of the Families for Change to deliver high quality support to individual family members, the number of families who were finding continuous employment was below expectations.  The Troubled Families Unit target was for employment outcomes to represent 1% of total outcomes claimed, therefore, this must be an area of focus for future payment by results claims.  Rotherham’s performance as at May, 2014 was 4% but had increased to 8% in August. The ESF provision would end in March, 2015, and the design of delivery of the new provision would be led by the Local Enterprise Partnership.  This would potentially deliver better outcomes with this cohort of families especially if the Ambition Project proved successful and expanded similar model was adopted to meet the needs of families with multiple problems.

The expanded programme would be based on a cluster of 6 headline problems:-

-          Parents and children involved in crime or anti-social behaviour

-          Children who had not been attending school regularly

-          Children who need help

-          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

Preliminary work would be led by the Troubled Families Co-ordinator to assess the most effective way to target the work in order to identify a cohort of approximately 2,555 across a 5 year period.  The work would review strategic plans and priorities alongside existing available data sets in order to make a recommendation about how best to deliver the programme.

It was noted that Jenny was to meet with Voluntary Action Rotherham to discuss ESF funding and was also in touch with the Rotherham Partnership with regard to possibly influencing the LEP.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the information about Rotherham’s performance against the expectations of the current Troubled Families Financial Framework be noted.

(2)  That the successful completion of phase 1 of the programme and commit to supporting delivery of the expanded programme, beginning in January, 2015, be supported.

(3)  That feedback be provided to the Troubled Families Co-ordinator in relation to the local design of the expanded programme.