£450 million for tackling troubled families

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that almost £450 million will be made available for tackling the country’s most troubled families.

The cash is part of a new, cross-government drive to turn around the lives of 120,000 of some of the country’s most troubled families by the end of this Parliament.

New figures show that troubled families cost the tax payer an estimated £9 billion per year, equivalent to £75,000 per family. This is spent on protecting the children in these families and responding to the crime and anti-social behaviour they perpetrate. The costs are exemplified by the fact that children who live in troubled families are 36 times more likely to be excluded from school and six times more likely to have been in care or to have contact with the police.

A new Troubled Families Team based within the Department for Communities and Local Government and headed by Louise Casey CB, has been established to join up efforts across Whitehall, provide expert help to local areas and drive forward the strategy.

The Government will offer up to 40 per cent of the cost of dealing with these families to local authorities but on a payment-by-results basis when they and their partners achieve success with families.

The Government has outlined the headline goals and how success will be measured with the following criteria: children back into school, reduce their criminal and anti-social behaviour, parents on the road back to work, and reduce the costs to the taxpayer and local authorities.

The new programme will also fund a national network of troubled family ‘trouble-shooters’ who will be appointed by local councils. The trouble-shooters will oversee the programme of action in their area. Their responsibilities will include making sure the right families are getting the right type of help, that sanctions are in place when needed, and that positive results are being achieved with the troubled families in their area.

This will be backed by a new, concerted national push from the Government to give this vital work a renewed impetus and higher profile, but also build on the successful work already going on in areas of the country.

The Prime Minister, who formally launched the programme during a visit to a Family Intervention Centre in Sandwell, said: “Last year the state spent an estimated £9 billion on just 120,000 families, around £75,000 per family. Our heart tells us we can’t just stand by while people live these lives and cause others so much misery. Our head tells us we can’t afford to keep footing the monumental bills for social failure. So we have got to take action to turn troubled families around.

“This immense task will take new ways of thinking, committed local action, flexibility and perseverance. But I know too that it’s a task we can’t shirk. People in troubled families aren’t worthless or pre-programmed to fail. I won't allow them to be written off. So we must get out there, help them their lives around and heal the scars of the broken society.”

The Local Government Association chairman, Sir Merrick Cockell, said: “Improving lives for families and residents is at the heart of what councils do and closer working between public sector agencies like job centres, schools, police, probation officers and social services locally will get better results and cost less.

“It is great news that the money announced today will go to local areas to build on much excellent work already underway. We must ensure this support gets to where it is most needed and is not tied up in endless bureaucracy and form filling.

“We are pleased Government has recognised the need for all departments to work much more closely with councils at a local level. This is vital to help us overcome historic hurdles which have stood in the way of the huge savings and greater local accountability this co-ordinated approach can deliver.”

The Government has also released the estimated number of troubled families in each upper-tier local authority area based on indicative numbers in previous government research. These are based on a family suffering from five out of seven specified disadvantages.

Councils will now be asked to look to identify actual families, based on factors such as truanting, anti-social behaviour and cost to public services.

Simultaneously, the Department of Work and Pensions announced that some European Social Fund funding will be used to help some of the country’s most disadvantaged families get back on their feet and into jobs. The programme will provide targeted and personal support for tens of thousands of families and will be delivered by leading welfare to work providers working with local authorities and local organisations.