Verbal Updates by Angela Slaven – KCC and Lesley Bowles - SDC

The KCC Director of Service Improvement explained that there were 2,560 identified Troubled Families across the county and 1,082 would be targeted for assistance in the first year of the programme. 62 of the 1,082 families were identified within the Sevenoaks District. The Government had agreed to fund £4,000 for services to each of these families with 80% of the sum being paid in advance and the sum dependent upon performance. Kent County Council had already received £2.8million.

Local Project Managers would be appointed to act as lynchpin between KCC and districts. They would take on the responsibility and ease the burden of bureaucracy from others. Their role in delivery would be important given that payment from the Department for Communities and Local Government was part-dependent upon performance. The Project Mangers could be drawn from district councils by secondment if this were considered helpful and this could make the appointment process more speedy.

KCC advised of the potential opportunity for the appointment of 2 Family Intervention Practitioners (FIPs) for the Sevenoaks District. The FIP would aim to reduce the duplication of work sometimes found in the most complex cases. The FIP would focus on ensuring a few critical agencies were engaged to address the most pressing needs identified by the family. The FIP would hold a caseload of approximately five cases at one time.  It was hoped the FIPs could be appointed within a couple of months through the commissioning process.

The Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) Head of Community Development advised that the local Project Board had been set up and held three meetings. Other agencies had shown interest in joining the local Project Board, including Kent Fire and Rescue, the Probation Service and charitable groups. The processes needed to take the work forward included using the Common Assessment Framework for each family and holding a Team around the Family Action Plan. Training was wanted by those involved to ensure that there was sufficient capacity to undertake the assessments. A Project Manager would be welcomed as soon as possible. 3 FIPs were considered as appropriate for the Sevenoaks District as was an administrative function. The Officer from KCC advised a business case could be submitted outlining the case for the number of FIPs required. The allocation of the FIP was needed to address high end families while the other needs identified in the families could continue to be met by existing agencies working differently.

In response to a Member’s concern the KCC Director of Service Improvement clarified that families would be given contact details for the FIP and the work would be responsive to family need.  She also explained that FIPs would act with a clear action plan and would try to get the families engaged with other agencies over time. This would allow the FIP gradually to disengage from the family.

The Chairman emphasised that FIPs should not be recruited in the same way as social workers as different qualities would be needed so they could relate more to the Troubled Families.