Troubled Families Scheme Has Made 'No Significant Impact'

A government initiative to help the most disadvantaged families in England has made no "significant impact", a report suggests. The Troubled Families Programme launched in 2012 at a cost of £448m, with £900m added as it was extended. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research suggests it has had no measurable effect on school attendance, employment or behaviour. But the government says lives have been "transformed" and the scheme works. The programme - set up by former Prime Minister David Cameron following the 2011 riots in English cities - was intended to turn around the lives of 120,000 of the most "troubled" families. Read more on the NIESR website.

Troubled Families Programme Expanded To Help Younger Children

Eric Pickles has announced details of an expansion of the government’s Troubled Families programme. Work will begin this year in 51 of the best performing areas, ahead of a national 5 year programme from 2015 to help more troubled families who cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds per year without intervention. Recent research shows that troubled families that have been worked with so far have an average of 9 serious problems such as truancy, crime, anti-social behaviour, worklessness and domestic violence. As well as expanding from working with school-age children to those under 5, the wider programme will also have a particular focus on improving poor health, which new data published today highlights is a particular problem in troubled families, with 71% having a physical health problem and 46% a mental health concern. Read more on the CLG website.

Government's Troubled Families Programme to Be Expanded

The government’s troubled families programme is set to be expanded to focus on 500,000 households. David Cameron is expected today (18 August) to announce a series of polices designed to put family life at the heart of government policy. He is expected to announce that the troubled families programme will now seek to help 500,000, as opposed to 120,000 households as originally intended. The programme, launched in August 2011 in the aftermath of the riots that hit London and other English cities, aims to ‘turnaround’ the lives of people with troubled lives. Read more on Inside Housing.

Study Shows Scale of Troubled Families' Problems

A new report has shown that troubled families being helped to turn their lives around have an average of 9 different serious problems. The independently produced data published on Tuesday 22 July 2014 showed that, as well as having significant problems with truancy, youth crime, anti-social behaviour and worklessness; of the families being worked with in the government’s Troubled Families programme:

·         71% also have a health problem

·         46% have a mental health concern

·         29% are experiencing domestic violence or abuse

·         22% have been at risk of eviction in the previous 6 months

·         35% had a child of concern to social services or who has been taken into care

·         40% have 3 or more children, compared to 16% nationally

·         police callouts in the previous 6 months have averaged 5 per family

Download the report from the CLG website.

MP Claims Evictions Are Hampering Government's Troubled Families Programme

Eric Pickles has been forced to defend the government's Troubled Families programme after a Labour MP claimed the housing crisis had hampered the scheme's impact. Siobhain McDonagh, Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, told the Communities Secretary that vulnerable families were being forced to move out of her constituency and live in private rented accommodation in other parts of London.  She told the House of Commons: "Many of those families live in private rented accommodation.  Large numbers of people are being placed in temporary accommodation as a result of eviction, some of which is quite distant from their home borough.  Every Friday, I see families going from south-west London to Wembley, Tottenham and other parts of London. As I see them leave, I am troubled about the future for their children."  Read more on 24dash.

Councils Waste Billions Fighting Troubled Families

Councils are wasting billions of pounds by not intervening with anti-social families more effectively, a government report has found. The CLG has produced a report to persuade local agencies to look at how they spend money on tackling troubled families. It gives some extreme examples of where councils are incurring high costs in dealing with anti-social behaviour. Barnet Council is spending almost £100,000 on average every year on each of its troubled families. The report, The cost of troubled families, shows one family in that borough cost the local authority, prison and probation services, police and health service £345,718 in a year. CLG says it can cost £10,000 a year for local services to successfully intervene and turn around a troubled family. Download a copy of the report from the CLG website.

Landlords Told To Prove Bedroom Tax Problems

Social landlords outside London must do more to raise awareness of the problems they face due to the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ as there is still time to alter the policy, a senior civil servant has said.  Louise Casey, the government’s troubled families ‘tsar’, added that housing professionals needed to ask themselves whether they were ‘part of the problem or part of the solution’ in working with England’s 120,000 most vulnerable households. Ms Casey said: ‘There is a job of work to be done on the bedroom tax – you need to step this up outside London.  The line about there being nowhere to move people to – if that is true you need to prove it.’  Read more on Inside Housing.