Information about the Reducing Parental Conflict programme
DWP publishes guidance collating all resources for LAs and stakeholders
The Department for Work and Pensions has published guidance bringing together information and resources for local authorities and other stakeholders involved in the Reducing Parental Conflict programme.
The Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme has been developed by the DWP which says that the programme will:
- work closely with local authorities and their partners across England, to support them to integrate services and approaches to reduce parental conflict into their local services for families
- fund training for frontline practitioners and strategic leaders in local areas
- build an evidence base by testing eight face-to-face interventions to reduce parental conflict in four local areas across England (31 local authorities in total)
- deliver a joint £6 million package of support, developed with the Department for Health and Social Care and Public Health England, to improve the outcomes of children of alcohol-dependant parents
- fund innovative projects to gather learning on what works to reduce parental conflict digitally and for families where the children face disadvantages, through a £2.7 million RPC challenge fund
- work closely with the Early Intervention Foundation to build and share the evidence base.
The Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families policy paper included analysis showing exposure to frequent, intense and poorly resolved parental conflict can affect children's:
- emotional and social development
- educational attainment
- later employability
- physical and mental health.
The DWP states that where a child lives with both parents in the same household, more than one in ten (11 per cent) of children have at least one parent who reports relationship distress. Children living in workless families are three times more likely to experience parental conflict that in families where both parents are in work. Children in workless families are almost twice as likely to live with at least one parent reporting symptoms of anxiety and depression. They are also nearly twice as likely to fail to reach expected levels at all stages of their education.
For the guidance, click here. For the Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families policy paper, click here.
17/2/19