JAMES SLACK - The country's 1,500 most disruptive families have been threatened with state "sin bins" as it emerged that their behaviour costs the taxpayer £525million a year.
The "neighbours from hell" would be moved into special units and supervised round the clock by staff living with them, the Home Office said.
Parents would be taught the basics of everyday living, from how to make breakfast to making sure children go to bed on time and attend school. Many will be placed under curfews and banned from having late-night or unsuitable visitors, while others will be required to have drug or alcohol dependency treatment.
The "sin bins" will be modelled on the Dundee Families Project, dubbed "Colditz". The project, based in a refurbished tenement block on a Scottish housing estate, is claimed to be a success.
Louise Casey, the Government's "Respect Czar", said drastic steps were needed to limit the harm caused by problem families. She published research showing that the average bill for a disruptive family is between £250,000 and £350,000 a year. The total includes police and court time, housing and social services care trying to keep unruly children on the rails.
It gives an overall bill for the 1,500 worst families of £525million.
Miss Casey said the sin bins will be run by council workers and other staff, who will live alongside the families. The families will be placed in refurbished social housing. Up to three families will live next to each other. Although CCTV will be used for security reasons, they will be free to come and go as they please.
The "sin bins" - which cost around £15,000 per family to provide - will be reserved for the worst cases.
Other disruptive families will be moved out of their homes and placed under similarly close supervision in council-run properties.
Disruptive parents deemed to need slightly less intensive curbs will be monitored in their own homes but forced to abide by strict behavioural contracts. Ministers, who are funding 53 different projects across the country, said no family could be compelled to participate. But those who refuse will face permanent eviction from their homes or, if they fail to change their ways, having their children taken into care. The Home Office believes that the threat of such sanctions will be sufficient to ensure that the majority of the targeted families will take part.
A large number are likely to be single mothers with unruly children.
Research for the Government found eight out of ten families threatened with eviction over their criminal and anti-social behaviour were families with lone mothers.
Critics argue the Government would be better showing support to the two-parent family, rather than spending taxpayers' cash on "sin bins", which they said smacked of yet another Government "gimmick".
Last week, also as part of the Respect agenda, Miss Casey promised talking CCTV cameras to order yobs to pick up dropped litter.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'This is the latest in a long line of gimmicks that make up the Government's so- called Respect Agenda.
"Many of these schemes, like night courts and marching yobs to cash points, vanished after the first headline. Now the Government is proposing 'outreach' to problem families. These are half-baked gestures dressed up as policy. What the public really want is more police officers on their streets, responsive to the needs of local communities and taking real action against the menace of antisocial behaviour."
What next? What an incentive, especially if the refurbished housing is in better condition than the run down hell holes they already live on? How many families will 'opt' for the worst behaviour to guarantee 'free accomodation'?