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£50,000 cost of one troubled family
Date published: 24 January 2013
Oldham’s most troubled families cost the council up to £50,000 each a year, council chiefs have revealed.
In one year, one “moderately troubled” family saw 25 different services make a total of 410 interventions at a cost of £47,235 — recording 18 “missed opportunities to achieve change” in the process.
Oldham Council told the Government the family wasn’t one of its most challenging cases: a second family caused 94 police call-outs, 34 of them for domestic violence, six overdoses, nine incidents of self-harm — six involved the children — and three suicide attempts.
The average spending on a family with relatively low needs is 1,500 per year, rising to £50,000 for serious cases.
The costs were revealed in submissions to the Troubled Families Unit at the Department for Communities and local Government.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said the report was evidence that billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money could be saved if problem families were dealt with. One family in the South-West cost a council £400,000, with one member of the family responsible for £290,000 of that.
Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to turn around the lives of 120,000 troubled families — including 680 in Oldham — allocating £448 million over three years.
Comments
I'm not surprised it cost so much, when you see how much is being paid to Anti Social Behaviour Officers! The council could save a lot of money by pruning the Community Safety Services, working 9 till 5 every day doesn't stop bad behaviour after 5 pm.
The solution is in a growing economy with job opportunities and financial security. There's going to be many more troubled families as the benefits contingencies kick in.
Clearly the money being spent isn't working. leave them to stand on their own two feet & use withdrawal of services to force them to change their behaviour
"Until we punish the wasters hard and swift the situation will only deteriorate."
The thing is , it cannot be solved by punishment , we already have hardened recidivists .
IMHO the problem is one of education , absent fathers , etc.
As this problem cycles through generations on end , all of its' malfunctions and sociopathic traits are amplified .
Sounds hippy , but these people need education , birth control , and hope for a future within the law and "normal" society .
I cant add anything to what timberwolf as said except why dont we stop their benefits until they start to act like normal members of society?
As the report shows the issue of "troubled families" is a nationwide problem and like other councils Oldham has to spend a lot of money trying to solve serious social issues.
I agree with MyNamesUnavailable @ on the need for better education and for me I believe education should involve social skills, parenting skills, household skills, budget skills.
You only have to see some of the programmes on TV to see I's not just Oldham who have people who haven't the skills to cope
Why can't we stop their benefits?
Come on squire think about it! How would they feed themselves? That would give them the right to go on the rob and justified because if they didn't they would starve.
First article of ECHR right to life second a right not to be tortured or degrading treatment.
Two of the absolute rights compromised, you think the amount it's costing now is high? Wait until the lawyers get hold of your ideas !
Around 50 years ago the 'progressive' left had the bright idea of 'slum' clearances moving many families into the disasterous high rise blocks, but of course they knew best, just as they think they do today. Families like this were never educated as to how they should live and it's no surprise they continue to lead chaotic lives.
Neighbours are not allowed to be 'judgemental' of this poor behaviour, and still no one is allowed to criticise.
The church might have helped once, but not now.
you can't 'educate' people how they should be parents or look after their own house or their kids,thats not anyone elses job,they are adults and should be resposible for their own lives.the Nanny state again.
And what happens when they fail ernie? You're happy with them turning their homes into pigsties? Making their neighbours lives a misery? After all we can't have the state intevenining can we?
You do realise that the Police and social services are agents of the state, should they just leave them alone to get on with it?
Responsible for their own lives? responsibility implies sanction when they fail - better that they don't fail in the first place, surely?
It's a naive assumption that ALL troubled families are on benefits although many will be and insecurity through benefit changes will push others that wayway.
@flake.Have you ever been more patronising? So slums shouldn't have been cleared? So living in a tower block makes you a troubled family?
"it cannot be solved by punishment" I beg to differ MNU, these people only understand punishment. Education etc is waisted on them. Lock them up, problem solved. A civilized society should not be made to tolerate these people. The £448 million should be spent on increasing prison spaces, they understand that.
@JMTS never misses a chance to make a political statement. Basic decent behaviour and a willingness to be responsible for their own often appaling actions has little to do with the economy or job opportunities because the vast majority who also have to deal with the present climate do so without causing trouble for all around them and trying to put the blame on something else isn't on.
JMTS, if you were to accompany front line Police officers who deal with these "troubled/criminal" (read as required) families, you would quickly realise that job opportunities and financial security would not change a thing. The majority have no morals,shame or intention of working for a living. As the report suggests, they are simply a burden to the rest of us. Have one of these "troubled" families live next door to you and see how interested in education and job security they are.
Have Your Say
Should it read, "costs the working tax payer"? The same tax payer that cannot get a Police attendance when required as the Police are tied up as social workers with families that have no morals and little regard for law and order? Until we punish the wasters hard and swift the situation will only deteriorate. I am betting these families are all benefit dependant too? Add that to the tax payers cost.
By timberwolf @ 24/01/2013 13:08:39