WIREDGOV

On Tuesday, as part of their Social Reform Strategy, the Government announced it is backing the Troubled Families Programme.

The CSJ welcomes this move. It needs to be followed, however, by a concerted effort to make sure the Programme is effective at turning around the lives of some of Britain’s most disadvantaged families by correcting some of the previous design flaws.

When David Cameron introduced the Programme in December 2011, during the aftermath of the London riots he said “we’ve known for years that a relatively small number of families are the source of a large proportion of the problems”. This is a problem that demands a joined up solution.

Each family estimated to cost the taxpayer around £75,000 every single year.

It would have been easy for the new Government to cast this Programme out with the last administration.

The roll-out of the Troubled Families Programme has faced criticism as a result of a failure to identify families most in need, share information across public services and a lack of robust, measurable data to prove the effect of the intervention.

It is to the Prime Minister’s credit that she has backed the intent of the programme and committed to reforming it. A successful Troubled Families Programme is desperately needed. It is important that any reformed Programme measures long term success. The CSJ has previously set out how this could be done.

The Programme needs to include within its ‘Troubled Families’ criteria families suffering from addiction, mental health problems and relationship breakdown. They also need to focus attention on supporting couples’ relationship, helping them manage their conflicts, and ensuring fathers play a positive and active role in their children’s upbringing.

Theresa May is right to recognise the potential of the Troubled Families Programme.

It would be too easy to simply discard the scheme to the great historical dustbin of failed policies. Instead she has taken the much more difficult but potentially fruitful option of ensuring the Programme works for those most in need.

If it is implemented well, this rebooting of the Troubled Families Programme could play an important role in the fight against poverty.

Related information:  Troubled Families Programme annual report published