£4m to help support families experiencing relationship difficulties

ALMOST £4 million will be made available for councils in England to support families experiencing relationship difficulties.

The £3.87 million cash pot will be used to train frontline staff who deal regularly with parental conflict, allowing them to intervene at the right time to protect the wellbeing of any children involved. Local authorities are able to apply for a share of the funding from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from today.

The DWP’s “reducing parental conflict” programme aims to work with local family services, the courts and police to help them spot family conflict, provide initial support and them for further help.

DWP Lords minister Baroness Stedman-Scott said: “Every child deserves the best start in life and this programme aims to do just that by protecting child mental wellbeing through healthier relationships between parents whether together or separated. refer

“The pandemic has been difficult for everyone, with families cooped up or apart from each other for longer periods of time.

“That makes our work in this area all the more important and this new funding will help councils do even more to support parents.”

The DWP said its programme is designed to resolve parental conflict, rather than domestic abuse.

Since 2017 it has worked with nearly 150 councils around the country to help them develop strategies for approaching conflict deemed below the threshold for domestic abuse.

This includes investigating the issue of frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict between parents and how it impacts children’s wellbeing.

From 2015 to 2017, DWP piloted the provision of expertise and evidence across 12 local authorities in England to develop innovative strategies to promote relationship quality.