More than 300 families in Northampton have been officially classed as ‘troubled’.
In October, the Government launched its Troubled Families Programme, which politicians in Northamptonshire said would tackle families which had “got out of control”.
During the past four months, 824 families have been identified in the county, mostly in Northampton.
Ways to help them were discussed during a meeting of Northamptonshire County Council’s communities scrutiny committee yesterday.
During the meeting, the leader of Northampton Borough Council, Councillor David Mackintosh (Con, Rectory Farm) said many of the families had been known to the authorities for years.
He said: “Of the 334 problem families in Northampton, all will be known to the authorities in some way and will probably have multiple problems around drug addiction and anti-social behaviour. But actions that are going to be taken now will make a big difference.”
Troubled families are those who have multiple issues,including children excluded from school, family members with criminal records and parents out of work. The Government has said 1,200 such families should be ‘turned around’ in Northamptonshire by 2015.
The cost of turning one family round is estimated at £10,000. As part of the project, seven ‘troubled families co-ordinators’ have been employed to work directly with families in the county.
Of the 824 troubled families in the county identified so far, Northampton had the most with 334, while Corby had 109 and Kettering had 110.
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