Cornwall has secured an additional £1,638,600 funding to help families who live with deep-rooted problems.
The funding, announced this week by Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick MP, will provide intensive support for some of the most vulnerable families, including those affected by unemployment, poor school attendance, mental health problems, anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse.
Working with the whole family unit across local services, with a focus on early intervention, the programme has a proven track record of driving reforms across public services. Rather than responding to each problem, or single family member separately, assigned Troubled Families keyworkers engage with the whole family. Through this approach they coordinate support from a range of services to identify and address family problems as early as possible rather than merely reacting to crises.
Since the current programme began in 2015, across the UK, 297,733 families have made improvements with the problems that led to them joining the programme. In 26,848 of these families one or more adults have moved off benefits and into work.
Commenting, Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay Steve Double said:
"I am pleased to see this latest allocation of money for Cornwall Council from central government, that has already had a positive outcome for so many families in difficult situations in Cornwall."
"I look forward to seeing this funding drawn down and invested into more positive outcomes for these local families in the future."
The latest evaluation results show that, compared to families with similar characteristics who have not been on the programme, 19-24 months after starting to receive support:
- the proportion of children on the programme going into care has reduced by a third;
- the proportion of adults on the programme going to prison has reduced by a quarter and juvenile convictions reduced by 15%; and
- more people on the programme are back in work, with 11% fewer people claiming Jobseekers Allowance.