18 January 2015

UK Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles and UK Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith have announced plans to do more to get some of England’s hardest to help families back to work.

The communities and work and pensions secretaries are to more than double the number of specialist employment advisers in the government’s expanded Troubled Families programme.

The number of welfare to work specialists seconded from Jobcentre Plus directly into councils’ troubled families teams will go from 150 to over 300 from April this year as part of efforts to turn around the lives of up to 400,000 tough to tackle households.

The new £10 million investment, jointly funded by both the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions, will build on the success of the current programme which has now seen over 8,000 members of troubled families hold down a job for 3 months or more, a 6-fold increase on the previous year.

In total over 85,000 families with an average of 9 serious problems have had their lives turned around by the government programme, with children back in school, youth crime and anti-social behaviour significantly reduced and the £9 billion annual cost to the taxpayer down too.

From April the programme will be expanded to work with a further 400,000 families and tackle a wider range of problems such as mental health, debt and domestic violence, as well as an additional focus on families with children under 5. But getting adults back to work will continue to be a big priority for the programme.

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said:

“The Troubled Families programme works because it takes a tough love, no nonsense approach to some of the hardest to help households, but provides real practical support too.

“The success of the programme shows that we should have ambitions for everyone to work as part of our long term economic plan, reducing costs to the taxpayer but giving hope and a sense of pride and purpose back to families too. That’s why I’m delighted that we are doubling the number of Jobcentre Plus advisers working directly in troubled families teams, putting rocket boosters under our plans to expand this brilliant programme.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith added:

“With big falls in unemployment and record numbers of people in work, it’s vital everyone gets to benefit from this country’s economic recovery, no matter how difficult or chaotic their lives have been up until now. That’s why we are doing even more to help some of the hardest to help families to turn their lives around as part of the government’s long-term economic plan.

“Through the expertise of our Jobcentre Plus work coaches we will help people to address a wide range of problems which might be holding them back from getting on in life so that they can, ultimately, move into work and have the security of a regular wage.”