MP Dominic Grieve: Tackling the problem of troubled families

Jan 18 2012 by Jack Abell, Buckinghamshire Advertiser

Troubled families seem to have a disproportionate effect on society. Some people indeed characterise them as ‘more trouble than they are worth’. Their members are written off as unlikely ever to make a positive contribution to the community.

Yet doing nothing about such troubled families has its own effect. It costs money to make interventions. The estimate is that, in 2010, the state spent £9billion on 120,000 families. That is about £75,000 for each family.

So if we were to leave those families without help and without trying to tackle their problems, there would continue to be financial as well as social costs to the public. These costs accrue to central and local government. The Communities Department said in December that they estimate £8bn from the £9bn total is spent on reacting to the problems which arise.

The Prime Minister and Communities Secretary announced there will be £448million to help 120,000 of these families. Local councils will work together with central government services.

There are ways in which the effectiveness of the help can be measured – such things as children getting back into school, the reduction of criminal or anti-social behaviour, or parents looking for work – and this will be monitored.

Councils will be involved in setting up a national network of Troubled Family trouble-shooters to get programmes of action going within their area.

At the moment, a lot of agencies may be dealing with each family, but working in isolation, so no-one sees the overall picture of what is happening. The trouble-shooters can pull the strands together so that families get the right kind of help so that there are sanctions in place if necessary, and ultimately these families can achieve positive results that help them and the communities in which they live at the same time.