Austerity drives increase in vulnerable families

The number of families needing additional support has sky-rocketed from 120,000 to 500,000, as the government’s austerity agenda further drives parents and their children into financial hardship.

David Cameron’s speech highlighting so-called “troubled families” called for an extension of his 2011 scheme set up in the wake of the riots. Despite Cameron lauding the Troubled Families scheme a success, the National Audit Office said in December 2013 that the scheme was “underperforming” as a result of poor departmental coordination and the risks run from setting up the scheme too quickly.

Unite calls on an incoming Labour government to rapidly expand the number of health visitors to tackle the rise of families needing additional support. The union supports the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association (CPHVA) recommendation of 250 caseloads per family, whereas the government’s current goal of 4,200 health visitors by 2015 translates into 276 caseloads per family.

Unite head of health Rachael Maskell criticised Cameron’s ‘smoke-and-mirrors’ approach in his speech on the importance of families.

“The increase in the number of families needing additional support is a reflection of the austerity-driven agenda of the government, which has seen the closure of more than 600 Sure Start centres and the reduction in services at many more,” Rachael said.

“This has been compounded by the slashing of mental health services,” she added. “There has been a 20 per cent cut by ministers, including children and adult mental health services. This means specialists not being there to support families in need of help.”

Unite member Joyce Still, who has worked as a health visitor for the past 30 years, agrees that austerity cuts are directly related to the rise in families needing greater support.

“My job is to support and encourage family health,” she said. “But in the last few years, health visitors have become glorified social workers.”

Joyce, who works in an area in southeast England usually considered affluent, says she now finds herself arranging tokens for families to use at food banks. She also explains how the many domestic violence cases she attends often start as arguments over finances.

“I definitely object to Cameron’s ‘troubled families’ rhetoric,” she said. “He’s labelling and stigmatising people who are struggling to cope precisely because of his government’s policies.

“We definitely need many, many more health visitors, but we need to make sure newly-qualified visitors get the support they need,” Joyce added. “Many new to the profession are immediately overwhelmed by the caseloads and the stress. If we had more health visitors, we could actually do more of the work that we are trained to do.”

Rachael emphasised the obstacles an incoming Labour government faces in supporting vulnerable families.

“With a 400 per cent increase in the number of families they are expected to support, there is a serious shortfall in the health professionals to carry out the necessary work of supporting these families,” she said.

“Increasing the number of health visitors will be a difficult task, but necessary given the woeful legacy of this government’s austerity programme and its adverse impact on vulnerable families.”