Pickles claims troubled families scheme on track

In a speech at the Conservative party conference on Monday, Mr Pickles said the Department for Communities & Local Government had “committed to be actively working with over forty thousand families across England” by the end of this year.

The figure was based on the number of claims councils had made for upfront ‘attachment fees’ to start work on the programme.

However, the figures do not mean that councils have actually identified that number of families meeting the criteria for inclusion in the programme.

The figures were submitted by councils in the spring when most were at the very early stages of beginning the identification process and some had not identified any at all.

Senior figures involved with the scheme have confirmed that these claims were not based on the number of troubled families that councils believed there to be. Instead, they were based on figures that DCLG had given to councils about how many troubled families it estimated there were.

Under the troubled families programme, councils have been asked to work intensively with families that meet criteria relating to being out of work, involved with crime and anti-social behaviour and whose children truant from school or have been excluded.

• LGC has carried out a detailed investigation of how many families that meet the government’s definition of a troubled family have so far been identified. The results will be published in this week’s issue, and on LGCplus.com, on Thursday.

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