v.2 DRAFT

Guidance to users of the Surrey Family Support Programme Families Outcomes Plan

This guidance is to be read, and used alongside, the Surrey Family Support Programme Families Outcomes Plan. This Plan enables local teams to bring families into the expanded programme as of February 2015.

Key principle

All families participating in the Programme should have multiple and complex needs that would benefit from a whole family approach

General principles

  • Of the 6 headline DCLG criteria a family must meet 2 or more to be eligible for the programme
  • Every eligible family must include a dependent child. For the purposes of this programme, this is defined as a person aged 0-15 in a household or aged 16-18 in full-time education, in training or unemployed and living in a family with his or her parent(s) NOTE: this can also be main carer i.e. grandparent or foster parents
  • An adult with parenting responsibilities who does not live with his/her children full-time, may only account for one of the problems that deems a family eligible
  • In order to claim successful progress with a family, every school-age child must be in suitable education i.e. currently above 85% attendance for 3 consecutive terms (as per Department for Education definitions) NOTE: this becomes 90% as of September 2015
  • Significant and sustained outcomes need to be delivered for all family problems (i.e. those identified at the beginning of involvement as well as those discovered at a later date) in order to claim success with a family

Progress levels

  • The Surrey Families Outcomes Plan aims to capture that a family’s improvement is relative to the level at which they presented at the outset of their involvement with the programme. These entry levels are likely be different for each problem a family is eligible under.
  • The progress levels in this Plan do not necessarily correlate with progress levels used in other local services
  • Not all families need to (or will) enter the Programme at Level 4 and Level 4 of each headline criteria are not intended to be viewed as equal in severity

Age thresholds

  • Any child eligible for the programme under the criteria of ASB or crime has to be between 10-18 yrs old
  • If a child/YP is eligible because they have not been attending school regularly then the child should be in suitable full time education if under 16 (NOTE: this rises to 25 if child/YP is on an EHCP)
  • If a child is identified and/or assessed as needing early help then the individual should be under 18 years of age

Headline problems – guidance and clarification

a)Children who need help

  • ‘A child identified and/or assessed as needing early help’ – this identification could come from a number of sources i.e. information from schools, education welfare teams, SENCOs, Health visitors etc.
  • A child assessed as needing early help – repeatedly assessed under s17 or s47 of the Children Act but not deemed a ‘child in need‘or subject to Early Help Assessments

b) Adults out of work or at risk of financial exclusion and young people at risk of worklessness

  • Identifying a family as ‘Financially excluded (or at risk of)’ is at the reasonable discretion of the practitioner but is likely to include those withproblematic/unmanageable levels and forms of debt and those with significant rent arrears
  • ‘At risk of homelessness’ includes those in temporary/B&B accommodation
  • Formal proceedings (i.e. Notice of Seeking Possession) do not necessarily have to apply for a family to be eligible under this criteria
  • ‘In receipt of out of work benefits’ includes Employment Support Allowance, Job Seekers Allowance, Income Support, incapacity Benefit, Carer’s Allowance and Severe Disablement Allowance

c) Children who have not been attending school regularly

  • The inclusion of 'pupil of significant concern e.g. pupil on support plan or equivalent' recognises the use of other methods by schools to tackle behavioural issues, as an alternative to fixed-term exclusions,as sufficient to make a pupil eligible under this headline problem e.g. use of internal isolation
  • ‘Children in primary phase education’ includes all children in Reception or nursery class not just those statutory school age children (i.e. after fifth birthday)
  • ‘Child with BESD’ – includes those children that will have an EHCP
  • In order to claim success with a family, every school-age child must have suitable education i.e. above 90% attendance for 3 consecutive terms (Based on new DfE persistent absence thresholds coming into force as of September 2015)
  • ‘child not registered with a school or otherwise educated’ – this phrase incorporates those classed as Children Missing Education (CME)
  • The move from authorised/unauthorised absence to persistent absence comes from the DCLG’s national guidance.It intends to offer a broader opportunity to identify children whose absence is persistent but authorised and is a cause for concern as well as continuing work with those children whose absence is persistent and unauthorised

d) Parents and children involved in crime or ASB

  • At Level 4, ‘home is at risk’ includes Notice of Seeking Possession for ASB,Suspended Possession Order for ASB, Notice to Quit, Closure notices etc.
  • ‘One or more criminal convictions/ASB interventions in previous 12 months’ includes Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBO), Acceptable BehaviourContracts (ABC) and Community Behaviour Orders (CBO)
  • There does not need to be a proven offence for a family to be nominated by a criminal justice professional e.g. intelligence of youth violence would be sufficient as would records of ASB by registered social landlords that have not led to any formal order/intervention

e) Parents and children with a range of health problems

  • The Surrey policy objective ‘For families to be able to manage their health problems avoiding frequent unplanned GP/A&E visits and the use of residential care/hospital’ applies to those situations where admission can or could have been avoided. It does not imply that the programme seeks to reduce the use of residential care or long term hospital use if it is necessary and appropriate for the individual’s medical needs.
  • For an individual in a family to make the family eligible because of a mental health problem this should be diagnosed by a GP, or other qualified health professional
  • ‘Family behind on take up of immunisations’ - data shows a low take up in Surrey of flu vaccination particularly amongst pregnant women, 2-3 year olds and people with a long-term condition

f) Families affected by domestic violence and abuse

  • ‘Family where there is a known perpetrator of domestic violence including child on parent/sibling violence’ – If a person is experiencing or perpetrating domestic violence,then theindividual must be 16 years of age or older to be eligible under this criteria. If they are under 16, this issue should be used as an indicator for eligibility under youth crime or ‘children who need help’instead.
  • At Level 3, ‘Engagement with DA support services and/or programmes’ includes an individual engaged with the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme
  • Inclusion of reduction in police call outs represents just one of the indicators of possible improvement – this must be considered alongside referrals to MARAC, family safety and engagement with DA support services and/or programmes