Over 90% of England’s 117,910 most problematic families have now been turned around by the Government’s troubled families programme.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles today applauded the success of the ‘life-changing’ scheme, which as of February had supported 105,671 families and saved taxpayers around £1.2bn.

It is though the £448m programme has delivered around £12,000 savings per successful intervention, where children have returned to school for a year, youth crime and anti-social behaviour has been significantly cut or a workless adult has been in employment for three successive months or more.

Pickles said: ‘The troubled families programme has been a triumph and I am proud that we will deliver the prime minister’s ambition to turn around the lives 120,000 of this country’s hardest to help families.

‘It has worked because it has been bold and unafraid of getting tough with those who need it most. It has also provided a long-term solution by tackling the root causes of the very complex problems these families face.

‘This innovative approach has not only saved the taxpayer over a billion pounds but had life changing results for the families involved by giving them a hand up when they needed it most,’ Pickles added.

Programme head, Louise Casey, added: ‘Families with nine serious problems each were never going to be easy to turn around, so all credit to the councils and other services who have committed to this programme, the many hundreds of frontline staff who have given their all to these families and most of all to the families who have had the courage to change and given themselves and their children a better chance in life than they had before.’