Policy background Troubled Families Programme
The Troubled Families Programme aims to improve the lives of families with multiple, high cost problems across England.
	The Government launched the programme in 2012. This worked with families where children were not attending school, young people were committing crime, families were involved in anti-social behaviour and adults were out of work.
	In June 2013, the Government announced plans to expand the Troubled Families Programme for a further five years from April 2015 and to reach up to an additional 400,000 families across England. The operating model for this expanded programme is laid out in the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Financial Framework  for the Expanded Troubled Families Programme, published in February 2015 in preparation for the commencement of the programme in April 2015. This provides the basis on which funding is provided to local authorities for the financial year 2015-16.
	Local authorities and their partners identify families eligible for support in their area by reference to the terms set out in this Financial Framework. To be eligible for support, each family must have at least two of the following six problems:
Parents or children involved in crime or anti-social behaviour.
Children who have not been attending school regularly.
Children who need help: children of all ages, who need help, are identified as in need or are subject to a Child Protection Plan.
Adults out of work or at risk of financial exclusion or young people at risk of worklessness.
Families affected by domestic violence and abuse.
Parents or children with a range of health problems.
	Families are then prioritised for inclusion on the basis of the following:
They are families who are most likely to benefit from an integrated, whole family approach, and
They are families who are the highest cost to the public purse.
	Where families are prioritised for support, local authorities are responsible for ensuring these families achieve significant and sustained progress against all problems identified at the point of engagement or move into continuous employment. Apart from school attendance and employment outcomes, all outcome measures are defined locally and set out in a locally agreed Troubled Families Outcomes Plan.
	The Troubled Families Programme offers local authorities and their partners an opportunity to reform their services and radically improve family outcomes. To support these goals, the programme aims to report on the progress and cost benefit of the programme in each local authority area on a regular basis. This information will inform and drive service reform and investment decisions.
	The new duty in section 3 of the Act for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to provide information applies to the expanded Troubled Families Programme, which began in April 2015. The first report to Parliament will also reference the progress of the first Troubled Families Programme, and the work of local authorities who began delivery of the expanded programme early in 2014/15.