‘Cost-effective’ troubled families programme ‘on track’

Chief executive of Action for Children, Dame Clare Tickell welcomed the progress of the programme as evidence for investment in intensive family support:

“We know that providing targeted and tailored support to families with multiple problems, by offering a mixture of challenge and support, can equip them with the practical and emotional skills needed to make a real step change in their own lives and those of their children. Not only that, it is a cost effective approach for local authorities.

The Troubled Families Programme is a payment by results model designed to reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour, keep children in school and adults on the path back to work.

Launched in March 2012, the programme is designed to meet the Prime Minister's pledge of turning around the lives of 120,000 troubled families in the next three years.

As part of the programme the government has also announced that it is hiring an extra 150 Jobcentre plus advisers to help ‘tackle’ the troubled families.

In an interview on BBC Radio 5live’s Breakfast programme, local government secretary, Eric Pickles said:

"It’s about reducing crime within the family, reducing anti-social behaviour and getting people back into work and today I’m very pleased to announce that we’ve agreed with the Department of Work and Pensions an extra specialist 150 Jobcentre Plus advisers that will tackle these people because, essentially, these are folks that the system abandoned."

Tickell urged the government to ensure the new advisers work alongside existing family support services:

“Many of these families have chaotic lives due to their complex problems. Only when you get to the root causes of their problems can we begin to support them build the resilience needed to sustain employment”, she said.