Will Troubled Families funding be enough?

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Local Government

The Government has announced that all eligible councils have agreed to run the Government's Troubled Families programme in their area.

The payment by results programme - which aims to turn around the lives of 120,000 troubled families in the next three years - sees the Government contibute 40% of the real costs of dealing with those families, with the remainder, in theory, being saved by councils from not intervening in those cases.

Helen Tucker, partner in social housing litigation at Anthony Collins, says the main question is, will the amount be sufficient to make the difference needed?

“The Government’s announcement that it is to provide £450 million of funding to support troubled families coincides with Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith’s announcement that he intends to change the way that child poverty is measured. His statement may have caused some controversy, but I certainly agree that deprivation relates to more than just low income. His identification of a range of needs is echoed in the introduction of the financial framework for the Troubled Families programme, which identifies problems such as worklessness, domestic violence, addiction, educational failure, debt and family breakdown as contributors.

“This broader approach to supporting troubled families is not new; with the previous Labour government setting up Family Intervention Projects (FIPs) and fully funding them. While effective, they involved much higher levels of funding than the current scheme, with families often moving into alternative accommodation on specifically created family intervention tenancies and being intensively supported by support workers.

“It’s no surprise that the old style FIPs cannot be afforded in these tougher times, however they clearly proved that intensive, focused support yields positive results and that agencies working in a joined-up approach works. The question is whether the new arrangements where there is far less central funding payable will see the same results.

“One positive impact of the current scheme is that local authorities will compile up to date lists of troubled families. Aided by services such as the Jobcentre and ASB injunctions obtained by landlords, this will hopefully lead to the identification of the families in the greatest need, and help to focus resources.  

“Reducing ASB is one of the criteria to deliver against. This may be another reason why social landlords will remain unenthusiastic about the proposed reforms to ASB injunctions in particular. Any disruption to the injunction system may prevent them getting orders, which will partly prove they have reduced ASB to qualify for the second lot of central funding.

“The Troubled Families scheme is a payment by results programme, with the promise of additional government funding acting as the ‘carrot” for councils.

"The necessary holistic approach is there and ultimately, it is obviously better to have some funding rather than none. The main question is, will the amount be sufficient to make the difference needed?”