Cameron extends Troubled Families programme to 500,000

In a speech today, Prime Minister David Cameron announced the immediate expansion of the Troubled Families programme, with work beginning in 50 local authority areas before spreading across the country.

Under the initiative, local authority teams work intensively with families that have one of seven key risk factors, including children missing school, long-term unemployment and involvement in crime.

The scheme was launched in April 2012 with the aim of turning around the lives of 120,000 by April 2015.

Latest figures, announced by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles in July, show that the programme has helped just 52,833 families achieve long-term change.

The extension of the scheme is one of range of measures announced by Cameron as part of efforts to provide greater support for families.

He also brought forward the introduction of the £19.3m Adoption Support Fund, which was recently piloted in ten local authority areas, to next month.

The fund, which had been earmarked to start next year, is intended to help local authorities provide therapeutic services such as cognitive therapy, play and music therapy, and intensive family support, to try to help adopted children recover from previous experiences.

Cameron also announced plans for a "family test" on all government policies, measuring their potential impact on families.

From autumn, the family test will be formally introduced into impact assessments for proposed government policies. Policies that are found to fail to support family life will be scrapped.

Announcing the plans, Cameron said: “I think it’s absolutely right that government should do everything possible to help support and strengthen family life in Britain today.

“I want every government department to be held to account for the impact of their policies on the family.

“The reality is that in the past the family hasn’t been central to the way government thinks, so you get a whole load of policy decisions which take no account of the family and sometimes make these things worse.

“We can’t go on having government taking decisions like this.”

Lisa Harker, head of strategy at the NSPCC, has welcomed Cameron’s announcement.

She said: “We know from our work around the UK that children living in families with multiple problems, such as drink and drug addictions or domestic violence, are more likely to suffer abuse and neglect.

“The expansion of the Troubled Families programme will enable more families to get the intensive, tailored support they need to get their lives back on track.”

A spokesman for Barnardo’s has also welcomed the announcement but said there needs to be a long-term commitment to supporting vulnerable children and their families.

He said: “We need to see a political commitment to transforming the lives of the most disadvantaged children for years to come, not just before a general election.

“The benefits of investing in children’s welfare are realised not in one parliament, but over a lifetime.”