The Board to receive an update on the Troubled Families programme

Tim Grose was in attendance for this item.  Tim provided an update on the TFU programme and advised the target for 2016/17, and advised the basic principles they are working towards (see agenda page 15).  The table at page 15 shows the breakdown by district.  Tim explained the current position, some families have been identified through data matching as being eligible but have not been attached as they do not meet one or more of the principles.

At page 16 the breakdown by district with CAF is shown, Tim explained that there is an issue with agencies not advising of closures which presents challenges.

Tim went through page 17 explaining the number of families in the eligible but not attached cohort and the importance of schools being engaged.  Tim explained the difficulties they face from some agencies to complete CAF assessments and to ensure a thorough assessment of the whole family’s needs takes place.

Tim advised that with regards to payment by result claims we hope to catch up next year.

At agenda page 19 there are a list of actions for the Trust Board.  Tim advised that Preston has been identified as one of the district councils to pilot work around anti-social behaviour data sharing.  Tim asked if the Board could think through any schools which are familiar to the CAF process that they could work with.  The outcomes plan identifies criteria and involving other agencies into the programme.  As previously mentioned the payment by results is a challenge as currently we are not meeting targets.

Debra Wilson said that she doesn’t believe the CAF documentation supports this and understands that is in progress.  Currently her staff have added a front sheet to start to collect the data.  Debra advised that often families are not interested and so decline.  She said her staff are struggling to get people on the programme, Health visitors offer help and support and families say they’re happy and don’t need it.  Debra explained that she feels we need to look at a different approach, Health visitors are trained in CAF but they are struggling to get parents/families to engage, Debra believes it should be a multi-agency approach.

The Chair explained that Phase 1 of the programme was a multi-agency approach but this didn’t go into Phase 2.  The chair explained that this item was discussed at the recent Lancashire Trust Board meeting which she attended and PC Bates said that this model is flawed, he felt that it is more successful where there is a hybrid model.

The Chair explained that she thought Phase 2 was put in place too soon and we need to think about the future.  There will be changes to work streams for example Chorley Council merge with LCFT.  If the targets aren’t met the funding will not be provided.

John Nelson advised that he thought Phase 1 had lots of ambition and it now feels like we are chasing money.  Phase 1 was about supporting families, it needs to be a national process and currently it hasn’t been embedded.

A discussion took place regarding the CAF process and some agencies not following the process, Debra explained that sometimes a CAF isn’t needed and it’s important we work together.

The Chair asked do we know who’s trained, is there a need for training?

It was agreed that we may be able to build something into the training session in June, where we could look at getting multi-agency teams together to look at embedding Phase 2.

John Nelson agreed and suggested we did 1 hour around TFU/CAF followed by 1-2 hours looking at online safety.

This was agreed as a possible way forward.