Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016

3 Support for troubled families: reporting obligation

(1) Before the start of each financial year, the Secretary of State must issue a notice—

(a) specifying the descriptions of relevant households as regards which support provided by a local authority may constitute relevant support;

(b) specifying the matters by reference to which the progress made by a household that receives relevant support from a local authority in that year will be measured.

(2) The ways in which relevant households may be described under subsection (1)(a) include describing relevant households by reference to problems that they have.

(3) In each financial year, the Secretary of State must prepare a report about the progress made by relevant households to which local authorities have provided relevant support.

(4) A report prepared under this section may include material about progress made by relevant households to which local authorities have provided support similar to relevant support in periods falling before the coming into force of this section.

(5) A report prepared under this section may compare the progress made by such relevant households as are described in subsection (3) or (4) relative to other households in England.

(6) The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a report prepared under this section.

(7) A report prepared under this section must be laid before Parliament before the end of the financial year in which it is prepared.

(8) For the purposes of this section, support provided by a local authority in a financial year is relevant support if—

(a) it is provided to a relevant household of a description specified under subsection (1)(a) in respect of that financial year,

(b) it is directed towards achieving progress in respect of the matters specified under subsection (1)(b) in respect of that financial year, and

(c) the Secretary of State pays a grant to the local authority under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 in respect of expenditure incurred or to be incurred on that support.

(9) In this section—

(a) a reference to support provided to a household includes a reference to support provided to a member of a household;

(b) a reference to support provided by a local authority includes a reference to support provided under arrangements made by the local authority.

(10) In this section—

• “child” means—

  (a)

  a person who has not attained the age of 16;

  (b)

  a person who is 16, 17 or 18 and is in full-time education;

  (c)

  a person who is 16, 17 or 18, is not in employment or full-time education and is a member of the same household as the person’s parent;

  (d)

  a person who has attained the age of 16 but not the age of 25 and for whom an EHC plan is maintained under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014 or a statement of special educational needs is maintained under section 324 of the Education Act 1996;

• “education” includes training;

• “financial year” means—

  (a)

  a period starting with the day on which this section comes into force and ending with the following 31 March;

  (b)

  except where paragraph (a) applies, a period of 12 months ending with 31 March;

• “household” means a group of two or more persons who—

  (a)

  have the same only or main residence, and

  (b)

  share living accommodation or one meal each day;

• “local authority” means—

  (a)

  a county council in England;

  (b)

  a district council for an area in England for which there is no county council;

  (c)

  a London borough council;

  (d)

  the Common Council of the City of London, in its capacity as a local authority;

  (e)

  the Council of the Isles of Scilly;

• “parent”, in relation to a person, includes an individual—

  (a)

  who is not a parent of the person but does have parental responsibility for the person, or

  (b)

  who has care of the person;

• “relevant household” means a household that includes—

  (a)

  a child, and

  (b)

  a person who is that child’s parent.

(11) In relation to the first financial year in which this section is in force—

(a) the requirement in subsection (1) to issue a notice before the beginning of a financial year is to be treated as a requirement to issue a notice after this section comes into force;

(b) the requirement in subsection (3) may be satisfied by a report that includes only such material as is described in subsection (4).