FAMILIES in York will benefit from a new scheme to help tackle truancy under a City of York Council initiative, writes Arjun Kharpal.

About 315 families in the city could take part in the scheme that will provide financial incentives to councils to collaborate with different sectors of the community in order to tackle issues such as truancy as well as youth crime and adult unemployment.

The Government hopes the national scheme will tackle some of the 120,000 families said to cost the taxpayer £9 billion every year.

Coun Janet Looker, cabinet member for education, children and young people, said: “Under the scheme, families will each get a key worker who will help work intensively on all of their existing problems and bring in specialist services as required.”

The Government estimates “troubled families” put a £9 billion burden on public spending in relation to the police, NHS and social services.

To fund the initiative the coalition has set aside a £448 million three-year budget taken from seven current departmental budgets. The Government will only cover 40 per cent of the service costs and councils who agree to use the scheme will have to contribute the remaining 60 per cent.

But for every family successfully helped, the council will receive £4,000, generating a possible £1,050,000 over the next three years.

The local authority claims it will also use its resources to support the scheme including contributions from the Early Learning Grant and backing from local schools and education.

However, the plans have been criticised in a report by the Economic and Social Research Council, claiming the Government has misrepresented the data.

The research said: “In the term ‘troubled families’ it deliberately conflates families experiencing multiple disadvantage and families that cause trouble. The attributed costings are obscure and certainly open to question.”

But Coun Looker was confident about the scheme. She said: “This isn’t about reacting to, but getting to the root of the causes of their problems.”