DCLG and DWP ‘not working together’ on troubled families, says NAO

2 Dec 13
Two government departments did not work effectively together when introducing overlapping programmes to support troubled families, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office.

By Tom Forrest | 3 December 2013

Two government departments did not work effectively together when introducing overlapping programmes to support troubled families, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office.

Auditors said there had been ‘poor co-ordination’ between programmes run by the Department for Communities & Local Government and the Department for Work & Pensions. As a result, there were doubts over whether their ambitious targets could be achieved.

The DCLG’s Troubled Families programme is attempting to turn round the lives of 120,000 families, while the DWP’s Families with Multiple Problems scheme aims to find employment for 22% of participants.

But the NAO report said that the DWP programme had only achieved 720 employment outcomes, just 4% of its target. Meanwhile, the number of families attached to the DCLG scheme by local authorities is 13% below auditors’ assessment of what would be reasonable.

‘These innovative and ambitious programmes are beginning to provide some benefits, but elements of both are underperforming,’ said Amyas Morse, NAO head.

‘This is the result of poor co-ordination between the departments when designing and implementing their programmes.’

Both schemes make use of payment by results, but the NAO suggests that the departments could have done more to understand the risks of this approach.

‘To achieve value for money, the departments must do more to understand how local authorities and providers react to the incentives in payment-by-results arrangements,’ added Morse.

‘To achieve their objectives, the departments need to continue to liaise with one another and monitor the success rate of both programmes, adjusting them when necessary.’

Responding to the report, the head of the civil service and DCLG permanent secretary Sir Bob Kerslake highlighted that it was announced last week that 22,000 of the most troubled families in England have already been turned around, and 62,000 were being worked with by councils.

‘This means that children are back in school for at least a year, youth crime and anti-social behaviour are significantly reduced and adults are in a steady job or on a path back to work,’ he said.

‘These are substantial achievements that are changing lives for the better in multiple ways and bringing down the cost of troubled families to the taxpayer, so we are pleased with the progress so far with this innovative initiative. Together these programmes are strong examples of Whitehall departments and local services coming together to deal with longstanding problems in a common sense and effective way.’

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