Research by the ACT government has found that a bureaucratic and fragmented social services system is leading to troubled families having years in contact with various government agencies without solving their underlying problems.

There is also an over-reliance on expensive "crisis" responses, by health authorities, police or social workers, driving up the cost of service delivery to vulnerable families. The research found that an unofficial system of service "rationing" had developed, resulting in families not being eligible for assistance until they reached crisis point and putting avoidable pressure on the front lines of the system.

Officials say that it is not unusual for more than $1 million worth of resources to be spent on one individual in a 12-month period.

In response to the findings, the government has quietly launched a pilot program that could see the system overhauled into a whole-of-government approach to eliminate "turf wars" between agencies and to put the focus back onto vulnerable families. Eleven families are expected to be involved in the trial of a system that could be expanded to up to 200 Canberra families in one of the most significant reform shake-ups of Canberra's social services since self-government.

ACT Council of Social Service director Susan Heylar said focusing services on individuals could help reduce costs and halt the “referral merry go round”.

“The people that are accessing these very high cost services, they can reorganise which government and agencies engage with them so that they get the right intensity of services and the right duration of services,” she said on ABC radio on Tuesday.

A recent study of six vulnerable Canberra families by Community Services Directorate officials and a group of non-government agencies found that people in need were often left bewildered and frustrated by a complex maze of government agencies or charities with overlapping responsibilities. The research found some families became "service-resistant" over the years as bitterness towards official agencies became entrenched.

The report, Listening to Families, calls for a new approach with each needy family assigned a "lead case worker" who would have the authority to co-ordinate responses and interventions between agencies and the non-government sector.

"This person has the authority to make decisions in collaboration with the involved partners and not be dependent on slow bureaucratic practices," the report says.

The new system would be aimed at ensuring that "the families are not only helped when they are in crisis and then 'abandoned' when their situation is no longer critical".

"There is broad agreement that the public service system is failing to address the needs experienced by at least some vulnerable families," the report found.

Community Service Minister Joy Burch said it was hoped the pilot program would bring benefits beyond the small number of families in the initial group.

"I am confident that this project will provide the ACT government with a better understanding of how our agencies can work better together for all Canberrans across a range of services,"she said. "I hope that these initiatives will also help us with early intervention, because the closer service providers are working, the more likely the early warning signs will be picked up, and the earlier we can provide support.''