TROUBLED families in Middlesbrough are to receive continued support after Middlesbrough Borough Council agreed to continue funding a pioneering project.

Safe Families for Children (SFFC), a charity established by Sir Peter Vardy, has been working with children’s services in the town for two years and a pilot scheme has so far helped 326 families and 752 children.

As part of the scheme volunteers step in to offer a safe haven for children for a period of time while their parents deal with various crises.

Middlesbrough Council has taken a leading role in the pilot, estimating that investment in SFFC could save taxpayers £1.4m in just one year by keeping children out of the care system. The council has now followed Gateshead and Darlington in the North-East in committing for the next three years by signing a Public Social Partnership with SFFC and the scheme is to further rolled out across the country.

Sir Peter, who has invested £2m from the Vardy Foundation in the programme, said: “A well-functioning society starts with the family, but often parents find themselves overwhelmed. We know what the challenges are and we know there are people out there who want to help, but don’t know how. Safe Families brings the two together. Middlesbrough Council, and the former Mayor Ray Mallon, supported us from the outset, appreciating very early on the benefits to families, their own social work teams and taxpayers.

“Clearly there is an awful lot of public money to be saved here, but the value to families and society at large is much greater. No one wants to see young children going into care if it can be avoided.”

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said: “The ability to make early interventions and tackle issues before they escalate can help families stay together and prevent long-term problems taking hold. Partnerships like this make a real difference and have the potential to benefit all involved for the rest of their lives.”

Taking a child into care costs local authorities £42,000 to £85,000 per child. SFFC's scheme has attracted interest from Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith, who approved £2m from the Department for Education’s Children’s Social Care Innovation Fund to allow SFFC to expand its service and Public Social Partnerships. The service is to be expanded across other areas of the country. Safe Families believes it can reduce by five per cent, or £8m, the overall annual care costs of £160m across the North-East and has appointed the respected Dartington Social Research Unit to monitor, measure and evaluate the programme’s success.