The borough was praised by the goverment.
Wandsworth has been hailed by David Cameron for its work in helping troubled families turn their lives around.
Official government figures released this week showed that just under 68% of families that the council is focusing on got their lives back on track within one year.
Since the Government’s flagship initiative was launched two years ago, 180 troubled families in Wandsworth have seen their lives put back on track, out of a total of 660 who are living in the borough.
“Every month, more and more of the most troubled families are getting help to deal with these issues head-on in Wandsworth,” said the prime minister.
“That is good for those families, your community and our country as a whole.”
Troubled families are defined as those whose lives may be affected by any number of social problems including drink and/or drug addiction, domestic violence, educational underachievement, worklessness, poverty, child neglect, truancy, persistent criminality and anti-social behaviour.
Each individual family whose lives are successfully turned around represents a potential saving to taxpayers of around £29,000 a year, due to a fall in crime and anti-social behaviour, a fall in the number of children that need to be taken into care, fewer visits to A&E, fewer interventions from the police and the courts and by getting adults off benefits and back into work.
Earlier this year Wandsworth’s, Family Recovery Project was hailed as a model for other authorities to follow during a visit to the borough by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
“These figures show that our no-nonsense and common sense approach is changing these families for the better and benefiting the whole community in Wandsworth,” said Mr Pickles.
Photo courtesy of bisgovuk, with thanks
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