Improving Life Chances in Salford Delivering the Family Poverty Strategy SSP Conference – Tuesday 31 st January 2012 Jon Stonehouse, Deputy Director, Children’s Services Matthew Ainsworth, Skills and Work Commissioning Unit

This presentation aims to: Describe the scale of the challenge in Salford Explain key development & policy impacts Outline the development & implementation of the strategy Describe the 5 step-changes and activities to date Give you all an opportunity to input your own thoughts and ideas

Thirty in every hundred children live in poverty More than 7,500 families and almost 15,000 children are income poor Source: HMRC 2009

Understanding the impact of poverty on different areas / groups.... Lone parents families Teenage parent families Families living with disability Families in poor housing Black and minority ethnic families Large families

Understanding the cross cutting drivers of family poverty in Salford Family Breakdown Economic Dependence Worklessness Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour Educational Failure and Low Skills Debt Early Years and Foundation Stage Health Inequalities Addiction Housing and Environment - Poorer outcomes for families and the wider community - Driving demand and increased costs

A million reasons to act… Youth unemployment – 1 million record high nationally Concerns that without further action we risk a ‘lost generation of young people – shut out of the labour market and increasingly disconnected from work and learning.’ (CLES 2011) Economic conditions continue to be challenging… …but there are opportunities. Ensuring young people have the skills required and support where needed to connect to opportunities Welfare reform as well as changes to funding and eligibility Maximising opportunities from national schemes (e.g. Youth Contract, Pupil Premium) as well as local community, public and private sector projects

Over 2,465 reasons to act… Average rate of youth unemployment (based on JSA claimants) is 8.5% in comparison to a northwest rate of 8.9% and a national rate of 7.8% Salford rate increasing alongside national and regional trends Salford performance is better than 14 out of 15 of statistical neighbours, but we still have approximately 2,465 young people claiming JSA Number of young people achieving A*-C continues to rise – now only 5% below national average Gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers at level 2 and level 3 has continued to reduce Performance around NEET over the last months has often been better than the England average and those of our statistical neighbours

Gov’t pledge to ‘turn around’ lives of the 120,000 most troubled families 306k families with children with behavioural problems 120k families with 5+ disadvantages 290k families at risk of severe exclusion 50k families with 5+ disadvantages AND children with behavioural problems On the basis of the current definition, the most troubled families have at least five of the following: No parent in the family in work The family lives in poor quality or overcrowded housing; No parent has a qualification; The mother has mental health problems; At least 1 parent has a longstanding limiting illness, disability or infirmity; The household income is below the poverty line; and The family cannot afford a number of food and clothing items. These are typically families who have histories of intergenerational poor educational outcomes, lows skills and worklessness. The challenge is to break this cycle and raise the ceiling of ambition for them.

New Troubled Families Programme: December 2011 Announcement In December 2011, the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Communities announced the following: The money - £448 million identified from government departments and brought together for this programme of work. The families - the 120,000 indicative families and plans to work with local areas in order to confirm these. The costs of these families if we do nothing - the headline costs of £9bn current spend Headlines on the delivery – plans for a national investment in improving the outcomes for troubled families. Troubled Family Coordinators (‘trouble-shooters’) - a new national workforce on troubled families. Headline goals - parents in work, children in school, cutting crime and ASB and saving money. New Evidence - a new report from the National Centre for Social Research showed that at least half of the families, who have completed a family intervention reported a successful outcome: truancy, exclusion or bad behaviour at school (57%); involvement in crime (65%); ASB (60%); drug/substance misuse (50%) & alcohol misuse (55%).

Persistent Absence from School Total: 3538 Workless/FSM Total: c.6,000 Crime/ASB Total: TBC Troubled Families In Salford (Work in progress) FSM & Absence 1201 FSM & ASB & Absence

Adult years Adults achieve economic independence and wellbeing, and provide a stable and supportive environment for their families Early years Every child is entitled to the best possible start in life that builds upon their individual needs, so that they meet their developmental and educational milestones and become confident and capable learners ready to start school Teenage years All young people have the skills and aspirations to make informed choices and reach their potential. Childhood years All children have equal opportunity to thrive and develop the foundations for future success in their adult years. Taking a lifecycle approach. Critical transition points and life moments…

Step change one: taking a prevention and early intervention approach Joining up interventions around shared outcomes Tackling risk factors early in life Tackling issues early on - delivering better outcomes and reducing demand Building community resilience and enabling self help

Step change two: employer engagement Single partnership business ‘offer’ Through work at MediaCityUK our 'offer' has already supported a number of employers to connect with local talent New opportunities e.g. Morrison’s staff, 167 (80%) from Salford of which 137 previously claiming a benefit. Included a programme for NEET young people. Building on what works through for example: –Future Jobs legacy programme –Pathways to construction –Apprenticeship incentives –Pre-employment training –Raising Aspirations programme –Quality universal and specialist IAG

Step change three: joining up investment Joining up services to deliver better outcomes for children, young people and their families more efficiently and effectively Moving towards a more integrated approach to commissioning: –Shared understanding of evidence, needs and assets, performance –Joint vision, approach and strategy –Developing service specifications around shared outcomes –Stakeholder management and support –Contract management

Step change four: learning and skills 60 targeted apprenticeships are being offered to support SMEs ‘Learning Champions’ - inspire and support residents into learning and to achieve essential Level 2/3 qualifications Community based Prepare to Teach Lifelong Learning programme Skills and Training Action Zones Strategic work around ESOL Work around Young and Adult Offender learner journeys Variety of public, private and community sector provision for young people not in education, employment and training

Step change five: financial inclusion Welfare Rights and Debt Advice Spotlight Early intervention and prevention and ‘triage’ approach in development Joint investment and collaborative delivery models Debt First Aid training is being delivered to front line workers, community and voluntary organisations and local Councillors Re-launch of Strategic Group & network

Going further and faster… Changing the way we work together – joining up, doing things at pace, scaling up and proactively planning Understanding our communities: evidence base to understand transition points / life moments, risks and assets Person centred approach – understand the needs and assets of individuals, families and communities Assets based approach - building community capacity and resilience Public sector reform driving integration

What can Forum members do to help deliver the five step changes? How can we make services/investment more joined up? How can we boost early intervention & prevention in neighbourhoods? How can we engage with employers more effectively? How can we promote skills and adult learning? How can we promote financial inclusion?