By Vivienne Russell | 25 November 2013
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has praised councils for making ‘great strides’ in identifying and helping troubled families in their areas.
The Department for Communities and Local Government today provided another update on its flagship troubled families programme, saying that, at the mid-point of its three-year timetable, the scheme was on track.
According to DCLG, more than 62,000 families are being worked with and 22,000 have been ‘turned around’, with children back in schools, levels of youth crime and anti-social behaviour significantly reduced and over 1,400 adults now in continuous work.
Local authorities have now identified more than three-quarters of the 120,000 troubled families the programme aims to reach.
Pickles said: ‘Councils are making great strikes in a very short space of time, dealing with families that have often had problems and created serious issues in their communities for generations.
‘These results show that these problems can be dealt with through a no-nonsense and common sense approach, bringing down costs to the taxpayer at the same time.’
The scheme is intended to help families whose are out-of-work, causing anti-social behaviour and whose children have stopped attending school.
Each is given a family worker, appointed by upper-tier councils, who acts as a single point of contact for families, working out their needs as a whole. Upper-tier authorities are then paid by central government based on the success of each intervention. They can receive up to a total of £4,000 once the children are back at school, crime is down and adults are attending back-to-work schemes.
DCLG highlighted that progress was being seen across the country. In London, Wandsworth was working with 90% of its troubled families, while in Newcastle, 80% of the city’s troubled families were receiving support.
Commenting on the progress made so far, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: ‘This radical programme demonstrates how, by spending a bit more in certain areas, we can save much more in others and by doing so create a stronger economy and a fairer society.’
