Home Office launches pilots to tackle antisocial families

The projects will provide intensive support to the most difficult families in order to prevent them being evicted as a result of their behaviour.

Bristol council was given £140,000 of Home Office cash to pilot its Family Support Project, which will be launched city-wide in April.

Brighton has also been given an undisclosed sum to fund a similar project until 2006.

The two councils were invited to bid to run the pilots alongside the other three councils designated as antisocial behaviour trailblazers by the Home Office in 2003 – Camden, Westminster and Leeds.

The project will combine the threat of punitive action, such as tenancy demotion or antisocial behaviour orders, with support services. Each family will have a key worker who will draw up a behaviour contract for the family similar to acceptable behaviour contracts given to individuals.

A small-scale version of the project is currently taking on referrals for the North Bristol area, where the council expects to work with about six families.

Project coordinator Helen Morgan said: “The key worker will work with other agencies such as education, youth-offending teams and police before a family is referred to agree a plan of action and suspend legal action. If the family drops out of the scheme, the agencies will go ahead with the legal action.”