BRADFORD Council is set to receive more than £1.5 million to boost its work in supporting "troubled" families across the district.

The funding will come from a pot of £9.4m allocated to the Leeds City Region, which includes Bradford, by the European Structural and Investment Fund and the Big Lottery Fund, which will contribute £4.7m each.

The authority is expected to benefit from a share of £1,575,540 spread over a two-year period, starting from January next year.

The money will be used to support targeted Early Help projects and build on the successes of the current Troubled Families programme.

A council spokesman said: "Early Help means helping families to solve small problems before they become big ones.

"It will involve providing important support to families before they start to cause anti-social behaviour, risk criminal records, or develop poor school attendance or are excluded from school.

"Support will also be given to families where there is unemployment, economic inactivity, and to those who are furthest from the labour market."

Activity on the projects will be delivered primarily through a range of voluntary sector organisations, and will be tailored to suit individual families deemed to be "at-risk."

The council said the approach the support would take would be to prevent, intervene early, or to provide early remedial treatment.

The kinds of activity supported by the funding will be skills-building, employability support, help to improve financial capability, support to find and keep employment, and resilience-building.

The activities will supplement any current national and statutory provision.

Via the funding, the council said it had identified four targets it was looking to achieve.

The authority wants to see at least 865 people engage in activities to improve their work readiness, and 17 per cent of people move into education or training on leaving the project.

It also wants to see 27 per cent of people who were classed as economically inactive start job-searching, and 14 per cent of participants moving into employment.

Councillor Val Slater, Bradford Council's deputy leader and portfolio holder for health and wellbeing, said the funding was "fantastic news" for the district.

"Providing early help is a vital way in which we can support struggling families in turning their lives around," she said.

"It means we can help families overcome some of the barriers they may face in gaining and sustaining employment, so they can benefit themselves and make a positive contribution to the community.

"I want to thank all the partners who have helped develop this successful bid."