1,300 'troubled families' in Hartlepool get help under scheme which sees town 'ahead of the curve'

The 'Troubled Families' project was set up to help those who have experienced a range of issues.

Hartlepool Borough Council officers have provided an update on how the region has performed in carrying out the ‘Troubled Families’ programme.

The initiative was first started in April 2012, with two phases of work carried out to date, and Hartlepool has been ‘ahead of the curve’ in its support to families involved, according to officers.

The scheme helps families who have suffered with issues such as poor school attendance, youth crime and antisocial behaviour, and adult unemployment.

From April 2015 until March 2020 Hartlepool was tasked with identifying and supporting 1,000 families across the region, and council officers reported they met and exceeded targets for this period.

Sally Robinson, director of children’s and joint commissioning services, told the Safer Hartlepool Partnership at its latest meeting the region was identified as the best performing in the North East.

She said: “We delivered that programme very successfully, exceeding all our targets by identifying and supporting 1,324 families to achieve positive outcomes.

“We were recognised through the MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) performance monitoring as being the top performing authority in the North East for achieving those positive outcomes.”

A third phase of the programme had been planned for April 2020, however the existing programme was subsequently extended for 12 months with no changes, putting phase three back to April 2021.

Ms Robinson said in this 12 month period they were given the target of working with an additional 168 families to provide them with positive outcomes, and the target was achieved early, by December 2020.

“For last year we were mandated to work with an additional 168 families and we achieved our target a quarter early and we were able to start working with those families immediately,” she said.

“At the beginning of December last year we achieved the target of supporting 168 families to achieve those positive outcomes, and so we are again ahead of the curve in terms of completing the targets set for us by MHCLG.”

Cllr Shane Moore, Hartlepool Borough Council leader, said it is a positive result for the area, and also noted it was good to see families themselves had commented and praised the success of the programme.

He said: “To be honest it makes good reading, it’s nice to have some positive outcomes as well.

“It is really important that we do get to see, not just the numbers of how well we’re doing, but actually from the families point of view if it’s having a positive impact for them, which it clearly is.”

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