Issue:

As part of the Government’s initiative to turn around the lives of 120,000 troubled families in the UK, Suffolk County Council needed to find a solution that would enable them to monitor, share information and work with 1150 local families who had been identified as in need of support.

Approach:

Suffolk were the first county in the UK to expand its use of ECINS to help support families in need. Suffolk Family Focus, a three year project focused on supporting families most in need of long term, intensive support began with a pilot in Lowestoft and is working to make real changes and improve the quality of life for 1150 families in Suffolk, helping them overcome issues such as truancy, crime, anti-social behaviour and unemployment.

Current situation:

Suffolk uses ECINS to enable partnerships and agencies to “talk” to each other and share vital information on their casework. Support workers are able to keep themselves constantly updated with information on their caseloads because all other agencies involved in a family’s case are able to record and share information in realtime via the ECINS platform ensuring everyone knows what everyone else is doing.

Future:

Through this enhanced multi-agency partnership working Suffolk will see major improvements in communication and outcomes for the people they are tasked to help.  The time and efficiency savings made by ECINS and the reduction in duplication of effort and resources will benefit both the organisations involved in working with families and the family members themselves who will not need to explain their circumstances over and over again to different agency workers.