Ministry to provide £165m funding for Troubled Families programme in 2020/21

The Troubled Families programme, which involves work with the whole family unit across local services, is to receive up to £165m in new funding, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has announced.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said the programme, which has a focus on early intervention, had “a proven track record of driving reforms across public services”.

The funding for 2020/21 will be used to tackle complex inter-connected problems including unemployment, poor school attendance, mental health issues, anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse, it said.

The MHCLG said the latest evaluation results showed that, compared to families with similar characteristics who have not been on the programme, 19-24 months after starting to receive support:  

• the proportion of children on the programme going into care had reduced by a third;
• the proportion of adults on the programme going to prison had reduced by a quarter and juvenile convictions reduced by 15%;
• more people on the programme were back in work, with 10% fewer people claiming Jobseekers Allowance.

The Communities Secretary said: “The Troubled Families programme will help more people in need get access to the early, practical and coordinated support to transform their lives for the better.

“This is the right thing to do for families and for society as a whole, and these reforms will reduce the demand and dependency on costly, reactive key public services.

“We want to build on the success of the programme in the coming year, delivering on our manifesto commitment to ensure we reach all those who could benefit from the programme – from the early years and throughout their lives.”

The programme was originally set to run for five years from 2015 to 2020 but was extended by a year in Spending Round 2019.