Celebrating 10 Years since the launch of the Supporting Families Programme

Celebrating 10 Years since the launch of the Supporting Families Programme

The Supporting Families Programme (previously known as Troubled Families Programme) started out a decade ago and has been on a journey with families, local authorities and partners since it began in 2012. It has survived under three different government administrations and has continued to grow in scope and ambition.

The programme is based on the principle of a whole family approach, providing support to all members of the family, including children, parents and grandparents. The programme’s holistic approach helps families to address and overcome multiple challenges they might face by ensuring that families get support at the right point, in the right way as early as possible.

In Hertfordshire we responded to the programme by launching our early help approach, Families First, which brings together all partners in delivering early help. The Families First model is built on a strong partnership who help to shape the design, development and delivery of our early help system.

We know that by working effectively together to join up resources and providing support to families as needs emerge that we can be most effective in improving the longer-term life chances of children, young people and their families. Early help is vital in preventing contact with expensive statutory services. The Care Review highlighted many of the positive features of early help and has put it at the forefront of the agenda for supporting vulnerable families.

The Supporting Families evaluation has shown the programme has had a positive impact on the lives of families across England. For example, it found the proportion of children on the programme going into care reduced by a third; the proportion of adults receiving custodial sentences decreased by a quarter; juveniles receiving custodial sentences decreased by almost 40%; and the proportion of adults on the programme claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance decreased by 11%.

In May this year it was announced the government has agreed to transfer the responsibility for the Supporting Families programme from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to the Department for Education (DfE) from April 2024. This move forms part of the government’s ambitious set of reforms to drive improvement in the way we support families and protect children, as set out in the Implementation Strategy for children’s social care reform, Stable Homes, Built on Love. The DfE is committed to the full integration and successful delivery of the programme and there will be no impact on the funding available to local authorities or the programme’s payment model.

To celebrate the successes of the Programme, the Families First partnership have been reflecting on our achievements in Hertfordshire and the differences it has made to the lives of families. We have produced an infographic that highlights some of the key achievements, programme milestones and feedback received throughout the programme.