In December 2010 the Prime Minister set out that he wanted troubled families’ lives to be turned around by the end of this Parliament. The priority was to help families who were stuck with many problems, often responsible for causing problems, and also costing society a large amount of money in terms of the myriad of services that dealt with them without getting to the root causes; money spent simply containing families in dysfunction and hopelessness. A team was established within Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in November 2011 to drive forward as a cross-departmental programme to deliver this aim. £448m has been identified across government to fund this programme, in partnership with all 152 upper-tier local councils who will work with families in their area over the next three years.