Families' lives turned around

THE lives of 60 families have been turned around in Warrington in just 15 months under the Government’s Troubled Families programme
Across the country as a whole, the Department for Communities and Local Government scheme has successfully helped 14,000 of England’s toughest-to-tackle households, including 266 in Cheshire.
The figure represents a seven-fold increase from January which means children are back in school where they were previously playing truant or excluded, high levels of youth crime and anti-social behaviour are down, adults are getting off benefits and into work, and the costs to public services and burden on the taxpayer are being reduced too, says the department.
Overall, councils have now identified 80,000 of the hardest-to-help families who will be targeted for intervention by the programme. Some 50,000 families are already being worked with – up from 35,000 in March – and the scheme remains on track to meet the Prime Minister’s target of turning around 120,000 by 2015.
In Warrington, 188 families have been identified, 140 are being worked with and 60 have had their lives turned around.
In Cheshire as a whole, councils have identified 1,223 families and are currently working with 800.
David Cameron praised the work of councils and the Department for Communities and Local Government in implementing the payment-by-results programme and said the results showed that no family was beyond help.
The Prime Minister said: “I am determined that we help people to get on in life including those families where things may be going wrong. For some, that starts with attending school every day, staying out of trouble with the police and taking practical steps towards work, just as other families do.
“Every month, more and more of the most troubled families are getting help to deal with these issues head-on. That is good for those families, their community and our country as a whole.”
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: “These figures show that our no-nonsense and common sense approach is changing these families for the better and benefiting the whole community. Considering the often
longstanding and deep-seated nature of these families’ problems, it is a huge achievement to have turned so many around in such a short space of time.
“And instead of several costly services working with the same family but failing to solve the underlying problems, this approach is both more effective for the family and cheaper too.”