DWP/ESF Provision for Families with Multiple Problems

Kevin Moore

DWP/ESF Provision 2011 to 2013

The Families Agenda

• Families with multiple problems a government priority• Prime Minister has committed to “try to turn around

every troubled family in the country by 2015”• Complex needs, the worst outcomes and make

significant and costly demands on local services• Around £8 billion a year currently spent on around

120,000 families• Across government, measures being introduced:– Community Budgets– Working Families Everywhere– This provision

Community Budgets• Pool various strands of central funding into a

single 'local bank account' for tackling social problems around families with complex needs.

• This ESF money will not be pooled in, but providers are expected to engage with the budgets and to align services to them.

• Now up and running in 16 areas. London’s are:– Barnet– Croydon– Islington– Lewisham– Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington

& Chelsea and Wandsworth

Working Families Everywhere• Emma Harrison has been working with the

Government and has become a “spiritual leader” in the area of workless families.

• Working Families Everywhere initiative has led to A4e agreeing not to bid for this ESF contract. The initiative is piloting a “Family Champions” approach

• First local authorities to get involved in the pilot are Hull, Blackpool and Westminster

• Expectation for bidders to be aware of and consider Emma’s work.

Contracting the Provision

• Being procured from the ERSS Framework• Same CPAs as the Work Programme• Due to go live by 1st December 2011• End date 2014 + 6 months• One contract per CPA• Contract values £12,181,591 each

Funding the Provision

• Primes to specify how many individuals will be helped

• Bids will be scored 50% on price, 50% on quality

• 22% fixed job outcome rate (definition as per Work Programme)

• 30% of funding attached to jobs• Primes to specify how 70% will be split

between Attachments & Progress Measures

Eligibility & PurposeFamilies must:• Have at least one member of the family on a

working age benefit; and• Either have no one in the family working, or a

history of worklessness across generations. *”Families” defined by local authority & may not all live in the same household*

The aim is to move family members closer to the labour market, so that they can enter employment or take advantage of employment focussed support, such as the Work Programme

Desired Features

• Excellent integration with other, related services – may be different in each LA

• “Teams of outreach workers in problematic communities”

• Outreach support expectation to work with families in the community and their own homes

• Voluntary provision to prepare people for the Work Programme

Strategic Fit

The Role of Local Authorities

• LAs will be primary route to identify families• In many cases LAs will already be interacting

with these families, through the local services they offer

• DWP will not have a contractual relationship with LAs. The are engaging with LA Chief Executives separately

Providers and Local Authorities

• Current support available to families with multiple problems varies across LAs

• This provision must not duplicate, but should complement and align with, local provision

• Primes will need to work with LAs to explore local opportunities and to ensure that proposals are appropriate

• Primes & LAs will agree processes for identifying relevant families

Essential Components1. Engagement through outreach and adopting and

maximising use of key workers where appropriate2. Ensuring family eligibility3. Starting work with the individual within five days of

referral4. In-depth assessment (taking account of the needs of the

family as a whole) and producing individual Action Plan within 20 days of start

5. Action Plan must include minimum support requirements as well as progress measures that go above & beyond minimum support requirements

6. Coordinating activities and appointments including links to other support

7. Post-employment support

Minimum Support Requirements – Activities to support personal and life skills*Providers are encouraged to present wider and more innovative options in addition

• Outreach and mentoring, access to key worker support where appropriate

• Raised personal and family-related aspirations• Increased personal motivation• Identifying own and family-related barriers (e.g. housing,

health management, childcare, behavioural difficulties, abuse)

• Improved confidence in engaging with support organisations (for example General Practitioner etc.)

• Reduced social isolation, participating in community activities

• Improved personal confidence, self-awareness and self esteem

• Improved communication skills, spoken and written

Minimum Support Requirements - Activities to support personal and life skills

*Providers are encouraged to present wider and more innovative options in addition

• Increased understanding of others' expectations• Ability to understand and make effective decisions• Assessment and recognition of own skills/potential, work and

personal• Assessing financial barriers• Awareness of rights and responsibilities• Discussing parenting skills (including for parents/guardians not living

with their children)• Improved personal presentation, managing personal and home

hygiene• Improving personal health, diet and fitness, managing disability and• Discussing debt management, budgeting and financial management

Minimum Support Requirements - Activities to support work skills

*Providers are encouraged to present wider and more innovative options in addition

• Introduction to employability skills, job preparation and job retention awareness

• Concentration and ability to engage with a task• Increased labour market understanding• Ability to prioritise, planning and organisation skills• Problem solving and team work• Timekeeping, communication and negotiation,

following instructions• Managing increased responsibility, managing others• Facilitating work – travel, caring responsibilities,

childcare

Minimum Support Requirements - Activities to support work skills

*Providers are encouraged to present wider and more innovative options in addition

• Improved literacy, numeracy or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) skills

• Discussing and identifying options for work-related development opportunities

• Support in jobsearch and interview techniques, disclosure advice

• Access to and skills for use of IT skills, internet, online job application etc

• Short job-related skills certification • In-work support and career progression support and• Identification of suitable employment opportunities.

Progress Measures

• As a minimum, sustainable measures need to be set against four categories with scope to go beyond :– Interventions to Overcome Family Related Barriers– Reducing Social and Economic Isolation – Interventions to Tackle Work-Related Barriers – Addressing Health- and Housing-Related Barriers

Bid needs to describe:• List of proposed progress measures • Rationale for proposing these measures• How they each can be evidenced

Progress Measures - Overcome Family Related Barriers

• support for effective parenting• providing positive role models/peer support• engaging with family stakeholders for example

schools and JCP • support for needs related to children, where

these needs are a barrier to an individual finding work

• ………….

Progress Measures - Reducing Social and Economic Isolation

• addressing debt and money management• increasing knowledge of the labour market• confidence in dealing with support agencies • ………….

Progress Measures - Tackling Work-Related Barriers

• developing vocational skills• work related certification and courses• Volunteering• involvement in social enterprises• work experience• improved IT experience / knowledge• self-employment • ………….

Progress Measures - Addressing Health- and Housing-Related Barriers • participation in a substance rehabilitation

programme• active and constructive engagement with

health promotion services• permanent accommodation • ………….

Progress Measure “Rules”• Must be localised, not generic• Must be demonstrably designed based on a knowledge and

understanding of the needs of local families with multiple problems• Must be able to show that the proposed approach meets

individual/family needs• Content, approach and underlying rationale must be explained• Have to demonstrate that effective LA engagement has been

undertaken and good partnerships are in place• Must be able to show that there is an understanding of, and

evidence to support, a wider family approach• Must show that the service offer complements and adds value to

the WP and other local services.

Competing for the Contract(s)East London

Work Programme No Work Programme

SeetecCDG

Atos Origin, BBWR, Eaga, Exemplas, G4S, Ingeus, Maximus, Prospects, Reed in Partnership, Sarina Russo, Serco, Skills Training, Working Links

West London

Work Programme No Work Programme

MaximusIngeusReed in Partnership

Atos Origin, BBWR, CDG, Eaga, Exemplas, G4S, Prospects, Sarina Russo, Seetec, Serco, Skills Training, Working Links

Work Programme Primes

• Have a supply chain in place• CPAs match Work Programme ones• Already operational (ish)• Can use economies of scale

• Supply chain may not have relevant skills/experience

• ESF could prove a distraction

Non-Work Programme Primes

• Can “throw everything they’ve got” at

it• Potentially more neutrality in

assembling supply chain

• Potentially longer lead-in time needed• Will the provision be financially

sustainable on its own?

The “Ideal” Delivery Network

DWP far more likely to take stringent look at supply chains•Strong record of working with LAs’ Family Intervention Teams, including existing links•Knows the most deprived areas and has a presence at community & household level•Understands what’s missing from local services & can deliver a measurable difference•Specialises in moving people nearer to (and preferably into) the labour market•Good understanding of, and links with, local Work Programme deliverers

Questions?