Education chiefs have met with high-profile Government officials to discuss Bradford’s success dealing with troubled families.

Councillor Ralph Berry met with Louise Casey, the Head of the Troubled Families Policy Unit, weeks before yesterday’s announcement that Bradford will be handed up to £5.8 million if it turns round the lives of nuisance families.

The city has one of the highest numbers of so-called “troubled families” in the country, ministers have said, including those with jobless parents, families involved in crime and children playing truant.

Ms Casey said that the programme was a way to “give kids in these households a chance not to repeat the pattern of unemployment, lawlessness and failure of their parents and often grandparents”.

Coun Berry said that Bradford had been highlighted as ‘cutting edge’ during the early discussions with Ms Casey.

“We also made some representations about how this scheme could be delivered better with some local flexibility,” he said.

“This is going to be very challenging work to turn around families, but we have a lot of children whose life prospects depend on us.

“We could carry on spending reactively or do this. We have got the management and leadership in place for this scheme.

“It will mean some quite firm and challenging interventions. We have got families that have been untouched by any programmes in 30 years where agencies need to be present.

“Sure Start (nurseries for youngsters) has not reached out to them and some of the children have low level attendance at school.

“This scheme could be quite transforming for families if we can get it right. It means we can go in and say that this situation needs to change, but we can’t force people to do things.”

Bradford Council has released a case study which shows the savings being made by working with a family properly on their problems.

The family was living on an estate earmarked for demolition, but there had been difficulties rehousing them because the family had high levels of anti-social behaviour including convictions for robbery, taking cars without owners consent, shoplifting, criminal damage, rowdy behaviour, begging, and substance misuse.

The mother was suspected of prostitution to fund a heroin habit and none of the children were attending school on a regular basis, with three of the boys permanently excluded.

It was decided not to remove the children into care if they engaged with a worker to help them.

The case study continued: “The offer of a new social housing tenancy was made conditional on the family’s engagement with services, otherwise they would be evicted from the tenancy, and classed as intentionally homeless as a result.

“The family were awarded a short-hold tenancy, and compliance with the family intervention plan was written into the tenancy requirements.

“Once the family moved into their new tenancy, the key worker worked with them to help them furnish and decorate the property to a good standard. The family responded well to the new surroundings and all the family started to take pride in the home.

“The tenancy was made permanent, secure and fully assured, providing long-term stability for the family.

“Based on recognised national costings, the intervention includes a saving of £6,500 on prevention of eviction, £550 per preventable prosecution for non-school attendance, avoiding three ASBOs costing £5,350 per proceeding, and a saving of £183,000 a year for not putting the five boys into care.”

Family Action chief executive, Helen Dent, said the Council and the Government deserve a gold star for tackling some of the most troubled families.

“This is a big result for the most disadvantaged families and their communities in Bradford,” she said.

“At long last they will be getting the practical help from Government they urgently need.

“We know from our work supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable families in England how important targeted support work is for families in crisis.

“However, the focus must be on children’s outcomes if another generation are not to become troubled. That means there should be payment by results for children’s wellbeing and child protection as well as getting parents into work and reducing anti-social behaviour.”

The Council’s strategic director, Mary Weastell, said that effective partnerships across central and local government were important in helping to turn families lives around.

Prime Minister David Cameron said that he was committed to transforming the lives of families stuck in a cycle of unemployment, alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour.

“These are trouble families who cause such negativity within their communities and who drain resources from our councils,” he said.

“I am heartened that so many local authorities are alert to this challenge and are ready to take forward our plan to bring about real change.

“I know that as this programme rolls out and increasingly gains momentum we can help people, and our communities and our society will become stronger as a result.”