Legal News

Eric Pickles has welcomed the news that more than a quarter of the government’s target 120,000 troubled families were already being worked with.
Troubled families would include:
• Those involved in youth crime or anti-social behaviour
• Where the truancy among children is high (absenteeism)
• adults who are dependant on out-of-work benefits
• problems of people which cost the public sector large sums in responding to their problems, an estimated average of £75,000 per year
The Secretary of State for Local Government said the figures showed that councils were on course to meet the Prime Minister’s target of having children back in school, cutting youth crime and anti-social behaviour and putting parents on a path back to work by 2015.
Figures from local authorities released by the Department for Communities and Local Government on Monday showed that by the end of the first year of the 3 year payment-by-results programme in March more than 35,000 troubled families were being worked with, up from 22,000 in December 2012 and councils had identified more than 66,000 of the 120,000 families the Prime Minister pledged to turn around by 2015
Mr Eric Pickles said that the government was committed to turning around the lives of 120,000 troubled families by 2015 by getting the children back into school, cutting youth crime and anti social behaviour across the whole family, putting adults on a path to work, and cutting the costs to the taxpayer of tackling their problems.
Mr Pickles was visiting Leicestershire to meet families and workers with head of the Troubled Families Programme Louise Casey CB. The county council there had already identified 679 of its 810 families.
He said that the Troubled Families programme was on track to deliver life-changing results for families and communities across the country.
Troubled families were often living miserable lives and could also cause misery to the communities around them, draining around £9 billion per year from the public purse. This programme transforming the lives of families who were not the grips in the past but also was delivering considerable savings to the taxpayer by reducing their demand on services and helping them makes a positive contribution to society instead.
Leicestershire County Council Cabinet Lead for Families Ivan Ould said there were vulnerable families out there who needed the help and who cost the taxpayer a lot of money by working together in Supporting Families Programme, the agencies would be able to offer these families a better and more cost effective service.