posted on 21 October 2016, updated on 21 October 2016
A review of the government's Troubled Families programme by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) has found that the scheme has failed to have a significant impact in key areas such as employment and school attendance.
The Troubled Families programme, run by the Department for Communities and Local Government, was launched in the wake of the 2011 London riots to provide intensive support to families with multiple needs and deal with related high levels of crime, unemployment, pupil truancy and use of child welfare services.
All 152 upper-tier councils in England were paid as much as £4,000 for each troubled family they worked with, with payments also made to councils based on the success of interventions across factors including employment, benefit receipt, school attendance, safeguarding and child welfare.
However, the NIESR analysis found that the vast majority of impact estimates across these areas were statistically insignificant, with a very small number of positive or negative results.
For more on the Troubled Families programme see the Children and Family Support and Intervention Services section in Children's Services.
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