EFFORTS to turn around the lives of thousands of Bradford’s “troubled” families is on track, Councillors have been told.

The Families First programme is part of a national government push to tackle families liked to crime and anti social behaviour.

Phase 2 of the programme started in Bradford in 2014 with the aim to deal with 6,070 families by 2020.

The Council gets £1,000 from the government for each family it works with, and a further £800 when they can show “sustained progress” in criteria from school attendance to keeping out of trouble with police.

At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee last week, members were told that by the end of September, 3,809 families had benefitted from the scheme, bringing in over £1.2 million for the Council.

The service is led by Barnardos in partnership with Brathay, J.A.M.E.S and YMCA, and there are currently 238 families receiving key worker support.