HOME OFFICE News
Release (073/2007) issued by The Government News Network on 11 April 2007
Local communities
who are plagued by significant anti-social behaviour from a small
number of the country's most badly behaved families will
today be given a helping hand as the Government delivers on its
promise to establish a network of 53 Family Intervention Projects
(FIPs) that will troubleshoot around 1,500 families a year across England.
Currently, problem families can disrupt the quality of life of
whole communities and make the lives of residents around them
miserable. They also put themselves at risk of losing their home,
their children at risk of being taken into care if it's in
their best interest or having enforcement action such as
anti-social behaviour orders taken against them.
Family Intervention Projects work hard with families to stop this
happening by challenging and helping them to change their behaviour.
These families have and create multiple problems and the way
public services intervene currently is not always the most
effective. For example the cost to the taxpayer can be between
£250,000 and £350,000* per family per year for a range of
interventions by public services including social, children's
and housing services, policing, court services, criminal justice
agencies and others. Family Intervention Projects provide a
single key worker to 'grip' the family and challenge the
root causes of their behaviour by giving intensive support but
sanctions if rules are broken.
Louise Casey, the Government's coordinator for Respect said:
"I am delighted that today we can announce that there are 53
Family Intervention Projects across the country to work with the
most difficult and anti-social families. These families can cause
untold misery to those who have to live alongside them and destroy
entire neighbourhoods with their frightening and disruptive behaviour.
"These projects, a flagship part of the Respect Programme,
grip families and use enforcement action and intensive help, and
are proven to turn families around. These are families that in the
past may have been written off by agencies as 'lost
causes' - but now will be offered the right help and
incentives to become decent members of their community and give
their children the opportunity to grow up with a chance in life."
Family Intervention Projects, a key commitment in the Respect
Action Plan launched last year, offer impressive results. For
more than 85 per cent of families, complaints about anti-social
behaviour ceased or reduced and in 92 per cent of cases the risk
to local communities was assessed as having either reduced or
ceased completely by the time the families completed the programmes*.
Clare Tickell, Chief Executive of children's charity NCH, said:
"Families who are behaving anti-socially often have
incredibly complex problems, problems that can have a ripple
effect on an entire community. It makes sense that if you help
the families, you'll help the community.
"Getting to the root of the problem can change behaviour
forever - not only giving children in these families better
health, education and well being but improving the lives of the
whole community."
Different levels of intervention may be used at different times
as circumstances and behaviour changes. At the most intensive
level, families who require supervision and support on a 24-hour
basis stay in a residential unit.
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is providing
funding to train up to 1,000 project workers to deliver parenting
programmes and one-to-one support in Family Intervention Projects.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The 53 Family Intervention Projects are in:
Area Type of FIP
Barnsley Managed properties and outreach services
Birmingham Managed properties and outreach services
Blackburn Managed properties and outreach services
Blackpool Managed properties and outreach services
Bolton Residential core unit, managed properties and
outreach services
Bournemouth Managed properties and outreach services
Bradford Managed properties and outreach services
Brighton Managed properties and outreach services
Bristol Managed properties, outreach services and scoping a
residential core unit
Burnley Managed properties, outreach services and scoping a
residential core unit
Camden Managed properties and outreach services
Coventry Managed properties, outreach services and scoping a
residential core unit
Darlington Managed properties and outreach services
Derby Residential core unit, managed properties and
outreach services
Doncaster Managed properties and outreach services
Exeter Managed properties and outreach services
Gloucester Managed properties and outreach services
Hackney Managed properties and outreach services
Harlow Managed properties and outreach services
Hartlepool Managed properties and outreach services
Hastings Managed properties, outreach services and scoping a
residential core unit
Ipswich Managed properties and outreach services
Kingston Upon Managed properties and outreach services Hull
Kirklees Managed properties and outreach services
Knowsley Managed properties and outreach services
Lambeth Managed properties and outreach services
Leeds Managed properties and outreach services
Leicester Managed properties and outreach services
Liverpool Managed properties and outreach services
Manchester Residential core unit, managed properties and
outreach services
Mansfield Managed properties and outreach services
Middlesbrough Residential core unit, managed properties and
outreach services
Newcastle upon Managed properties and outreach services Tyne
Newham Managed properties, outreach services and scoping a
residential core unit
Norwich Managed properties and outreach services
Nottingham Managed properties, outreach services and scoping a
residential core unit
Oldham Managed properties and outreach services
Plymouth Managed properties and outreach services
Portsmouth Managed properties and outreach services
Rochdale Managed properties and outreach services
Salford Managed properties, outreach services and scoping a
residential core unit
Sandwell Managed properties and outreach services
Sheffield Residential core unit, managed properties and
outreach services
South Tyneside Managed properties and outreach services
Southampton Managed properties and outreach services
Southend-on-Sea Managed properties, outreach services and scoping a
residential core unit
Southwark Managed properties and outreach services
Stoke Managed properties and outreach services
Sunderland Managed properties and outreach services
Tower Hamlets Managed properties and outreach services
Wakefield Residential core unit, managed properties and
outreach services
Westminster Managed properties and outreach services
Wirral Residential core unit, managed properties and
outreach services
2. *Communities and Local Government (2006) 'Anti-social
Behaviour Intensive Family Support Projects: An evaluation of six
pioneering projects'. Department for Communities and Local
Government: London
3. The Respect Action Plan, published in January 2006, detailed a
commitment to establishing a national network of projects to work
with the most challenging problem families by April 2007. An
evaluation has been commissioned to assess the new national
network of Family Intervention Projects and will report at the end
of 2007.
4. The Government is providing approximately £15 million funding
over two years to kick-start these projects (with £13 million of
this coming from the Respect Task Force). Additionally, training
in evidence based parenting programmes for practitioners in the
FIP areas worth up to £3 million is being funded by the DfES.
5. Average project costs range from around £8,000 per family for
those receiving outreach help in their homes or living in managed
properties to around £15,000 for services providing more intensive
services (in a residential core unit). Government is contributing
about £5,000 per family of this through funding under the Respect
programme. (This excludes resources available to local authorities
through mainstream funding such as Supporting People,
neighbourhood renewal and other local authority revenue streams.)
6. There are three distinct levels of interventions which are
used according to the family's needs and the impact of their
behaviour on the community. Different levels of intervention may
be used at different times as circumstances and behaviour changes.
7. Most projects provide an outreach service for families who are
responsible for anti-social behaviour in their home, and who are
at risk of being evicted. Services can also be provided in units
managed by the family intervention project but dispersed in the community.
8. At the most intensive level, families who require supervision
and support on a 24 hour basis stay in a core residential unit.
Upon satisfactory completion of a programme, the family can move
into a dispersed unit. While projects vary in the level of service
they can provide, they share key features which are what
distinguishes these projects.
9. Sheffield Hallam University conducted an evaluation of six
family support projects in the North West of England. Its study found:
* an 85 per cent reduction in complaints about anti-social
behaviour;
* a 36 per cent improvement in school attendance;
and
* an 80 per cent reduction in the risk of homelessness.
10. For more information on the Respect programme visit http://www.respect.gov.uk