Surrey Tories fail Troubled Families

National figures announced today by the Coalition Government have bought welcome news on the large number of "Troubled Families" being turned around by councils across the country, but reveal an exceptionally poor performance by Conservative controlled Surrey County Council.

Troubled families are those that have problems and cause problems to the community around them, putting high costs on the public sector. Government funding is provided to help turn round troubled families.

The scheme aims to:

• get children back into school
• reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour
• put adults on a path back to work
• reduce the high costs these families place on the public sector each year.

This is achieved by:

• joining up local services
• dealing with each family's problems as a whole rather than responding to each problem, or person, separately
• appointing a single key worker to get to grips with the family's problems and work intensively with them to change their lives for the better for the long term
• using a mix of methods that support families and challenge poor behaviour

Nationally, out of 118,000 families, 14,000 had been turned around by the end of July 2013, a 12% success rate.

In Surrey, out of 1,000 families, 12 had been turned around in the same period, a 1% success rate.

Cllr Stella Lallement, the Liberal Democrat Children and Education Spokesperson on Surrey County Council said: "These figures show the lack of joined up thinking by the Conservatives on Surrey County Council. Not enough effort has been put in by the Conservative administration to tackle and resolve the problems of troubled families by giving them the necessary support. With cuts to Youth Work funding and poor OFSTED results in some key areas it has been clear that Surrey County Council has been failing young people for some time."

Cllr Fiona White, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Adult Social Services Spokesperson, said: "It is crucial not only for the 1,000 families, but also for all Surrey residents that Surrey County Council takes a joined up approach to supporting troubled families."

Note:

Figures for every local authority in England can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/troubled-families-progress-information-at-30-june-2013-and-families-turned-around-at-29-july-2013