The troubled families programme: A process, impact and social return on investment analysis

Hoggett, James; Ahmad, Yusuf; Frost, Elizabeth; Kimberlee, Richard; McCartan, Kieran; Solle, Josie

Abstract

This project was developed by a research team at the University of the West of England (UWE) under the direction of the Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. James Hoggett to evaluate aspects of a troubled families programme in the South West of England.

After the summer riots of 2011, the Prime Minister David Cameron, ascribed, in part the summer’s disorder to ‘120,000 troubled families’. In November 2011 Louise Casey was appointed, at Director General Level in the Department for Communities and Local Government, to head up the government’s response to this issue and ‘turn around’ these families by the end of the current Parliament. The result was the development of the ‘Troubled Families Programme (TFP, Casey, 2012). According to the DCLG (2014) troubled families are those that have problems and cause problems to the community around them, putting high costs on the public sector. The TFP seeks to develop new ways of working with these families, which focus on lasting change in terms of reducing costs to the state and improving outcomes for the families in question. The stated outcomes include both changing the trajectory for families and also changing the way services are delivered to them.

However, evidence for the effectiveness of family intervention projects is weak; for example, a systematic review commissioned by the previous government found no studies to support the claim that such interventions improve outcomes for families (Newman, et al., 2007). In light of these evidential shortcomings a systematic evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme delivered by local government in a city in the South West of England was commissioned.

• Report Type: Project Report
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 6, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: troubled families programme, social return on investment analysis, evaluation of family intervention programmes
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/806129
• Additional Information: Corporate Creators : Bristol City Council