Plans are unveiled to help troubled families

AN ESTIMATED 900 families across Worcestershire will be targeted as part of a £450million Government drive to transform the lives of the country's most troubled households.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles MP unveiled the plans which aim to turn around the lives of 120,000 'troubled' families nationwide by the end of the parliament in 2015.

The project comes as new figures show that troubled families cost the taxpayer an estimated £9billion per year, equivalent to £75,000 per family.

Money is spent protecting the children in these families and responding to the crime and anti-social behaviour they commit.

Worcestershire is fourth in the list of 10 West Midlands local authorities but well behind Birmingham which has an estimated 4,180 troubled families.

To tackle the problem, a new Troubled Families Team will be based within the Department for Communities and Local Government to provide expert help to local areas.

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

Once identified, the Government will offer up to 40 per cent of the cost of dealing with these families to local authorities on a payment-by-results basis when local authorities achieve success with families.

Factors such as getting children back into school, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour and getting parents back into work will be among the criteria on which local councils will be judged.

The new programme will also fund a national network of trouble-shooters who will be appointed by local councils.

The trouble-shooters will oversee the programme of action in their area and their responsibilities will include making sure

the right families are getting the right type of help and that positive results are being achieved with families.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "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.

"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," he added.