14k 'troubled families' helped

The troubled families scheme is about "trying to break a cycle of depravation that has crossed generations", according to the Communities and Local Government Secretary.

Speaking to Daybreak, Eric Pickles said Bradford Council were still dealing with the same families as he had been dealing with 25-years-ago, when he lead the West Yorkshire local authority.

Troubled families were "a great drain on the nation" and cost the taxpayer "£9 billion a year - £8 billion of which is just reacting to them", he added.

A single mother said she would have lost her home were it not for a government scheme offering support to so-called 'troubled families'.

Tina Hill had "no prospects" and problems with her son Connor before she was given support as part of a multi-million pound driver after the 2011 riots.

The Government's "troubled families" scheme has succeeded in preventing youth crime and getting benefit claimants back to work because of a "no-nonsense" approach, says the man behind it.

Communities and Local Government secretary Eric Pickles praised the work of all 152 local authorities in England who were taking part in the scheme.

His comments came as all the 152 upper tier local authorities announced figures and revealed an extra 14,000 troubled families were taking part.

Mr 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 long-standing 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."

According to the Communities and Local Government department, the parameters of the troubled families scheme are:

• Councils are paid up to £4,000 for "turning around" troubled families.
• Several measures must be met to receive the cash, including if children attend classes, adults are taken off benefits and the cost to public services is reduced.

Town halls have succeeded in turning around the lives of 14,000 of England's most troubled families, Eric Pickles has said.

The Communities and Local Government Secretary said latest figures showed local authorities were working with 50,000 families to reduce youth crime and truancy or help get adults back on the path to work - up from 35,000 in March.

Another 30,000 had been identified as being in need of the intense assistance.

It follows the Prime Minister's pledge to allocate £448 million to turn around the lives of the UK's 120,000 most troubled families, following the 2011 riots which swept London and other English cities.

Read more: Troubled family scheme 'works'