Ten local authority areas with the largest number of troubled families have signed-up to the Government's payment-by-results scheme, in a bid to bring renewed momentum to an initiative launched by the prime minister last December.

Authorities - Birmingham, Lancashire, Kent, Manchester, Essex, Leeds, Liverpool, Bradford, Norfolk and Sheffield, stand to gain £4,000 funding for each one of 23,410 families they successfully help from a £78m Department for Communities and Local Government cash pot.