15 local areas to lead Pathfinder projects supporting vulnerable families
4 May 2008
CAB/049/08
This is a joint press notice on behalf of both the Cabinet Office and the Department of Children, Schools and Families.
Children and Families Minister, Beverley Hughes today announced the details of a £16m ‘Family Pathfinder’ programme – naming 15 local areas where disadvantaged families will be offered intensive help and support.
Each of the 15 areas has successfully bid to lead the way in testing and developing a ground-breaking ‘think family’ approach to help their most vulnerable families.
‘Think Family’ – an approach developed by the Cabinet Office's Social Exclusion Task Force – aims to ensure that adults' and children's services join up to respond to the needs of whole families.
Six of the Family Pathfinders will also receive additional funding to deliver services for families with young carers. The aim is to help ensure that children in these families do not have to take on inappropriate caring roles.
Outlining the need for joined up services at a speech to the National Association of Head Teachers, Children and Families Minister Beverley Hughes said:
“We need to give disadvantaged children and families the extra support they need.
“This is especially important for children from the most vulnerable families where children are five times more likely to struggle with reading and writing, eight times more likely to be suspended, and ten times more likely to get into trouble with the law.
“When parents face multiple problems in their own lives the impact can be severe and enduring for both themselves and for their children. Families at risk need good children's services, but adult services also have a vital role to play. Our Family Pathfinder programme is designed to develop our understanding of how we can best offer the integrated provision these children and families need.”
Ed Miliband, Cabinet Minister with responsibility for social exclusion, said:
“To ensure children get a fair start in life, we must support the needs of the whole family.
“When vulnerable adults turn to public services, there must be no wrong door to the tailored support they need. Only by effectively co-ordinating children's and adults' services to think family will we break the cycle of disadvantage that exists for the most at risk families”.
The successful areas are Blackpool, Bolton, Brighton and Hove, Durham, Gateshead, Islington, Leeds, Salford, Somerset, Walsall, Warrington, Southampton, Southend, Sunderland and Westminster.
The six areas who will receive additional funds for young carers services are Islington, Gateshead, Sunderland, Bolton, Somerset and Leeds.
For media enquiries on the Pathfinders themselves, please contact the Department of Children, Schools and Families' duty press officer on 020 7925 6789. For media enquiries on the ‘Think Family’ approach, please contact the Cabinet Office on 07074 667 000.
Please note: DCSF have put out a separate press notice today to cover the broader set of announcements made by Beverley Hughes in her speech to the NAHT conference.
Notes to editors
- The Family Pathfinder project was originally announced in the Children's Plan, which stated that £16 million had been made available in 2008-11 for delivery of up to 15 Family Pathfinders (£13m) and up to six pathfinder areas to deliver Extended Family Pathfinder for Young Carers (£3m). For more information on the specific projects, please contact DCSF.
- The Think Family approach was developed in the Cabinet Office by the Social Exclusion Task Force. It builds on the learning from effective whole family support packages such as Family Intervention Projects. Around 140,000 families in Britain experience 5 or more multiple and complex problems such as worklessness, poor mental health or substance misuse. For more information about the Think Family approach please go to: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/social_exclusion_task_force.aspx
- Precise data on the numbers of families who may be heavily reliant on a young carer is not available. The 2001 Census indicated there were some 150,000 young carers across England and Wales. Most are aged between 12 and 14 and provide between 1 and 19 hours of care per week but a significant minority – some 16% – were caring for between 20 and 50 hours or more per week. For more information, please contact DCSF [External website].
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