How to get ahead ... as a leader of the troubled families initiative

Louise Casey, troubled families tsar. The troubled families scheme was recently extended by five years. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi for the Guardian

The government's flagship troubled families initiative – which was promised an extra £200m in the recent comprehensive spending review and extended by five years – is creating job opportunities for senior managers in the public and voluntary sectors.

Southwark council has decided against following the lead of other authorities that have decided to appoint a troubled families co-ordinator to manage the programme. Instead, the south London authority has created the new role of head of troubled families in an attempt to sustain the initiative long-term. Similar appointments have happened elsewhere: both Essex and Peterborough have appointed heads of service.

Kerry Crichlow, Southwark's director of strategy and commissioning for children and adult services, says: "I don't think we are unique in seeking a permanent appointment, but I think we are one of the earliest authorities who don't just want to see this as a programme, but to see troubled families as a transformational opportunity, and we are going to use it as such. This is about changing the way we work across the council and with our partners."

Southwark is keen to throw the recruitment net wider than senior children's services managers whom it would expect to be attracted to the role. Crichlow says the job – which comes with a maximum £65,487 salary – could also appeal to ambitious managers with experience of working with complex families in the voluntary sector, youth offending services or community safety.

Crichlow says: "We aren't prepared to just go for the single view. It is a big ask, but we are confident that there are individuals out there who can do the operational leadership bit, but also operate on a strategic platform."

Dave Hill, director of people (adults and children) at Essex county council, is also chair of the workforce committee of the Association of Directors of Children's Services. His own authority has appointed a non-social worker to a permanent head of service role.

He says: "My personal view is that people have got to see this [troubled families] as central to their whole offer and for it to be permanent. I don't think Southwark is alone in thinking that it does not have to appoint a qualified social worker."

He says: "We appointed somebody from the youth justice service because she was able to think outside the box." Having an entrepreneurial flair and the ability to bring new ideas to the table are just as important as a professional social work qualification for leaders of troubled families, he says.

Southwark has 1,085 families identified as troubled, according to calculations by the Department for Communities and Local Government based on adults out of work, child truancy and history of antisocial behaviour. Southwark's is one of the highest numbers in the country when compared to the borough's head of population figures, and illustrates the scale of the task facing its new head of service.

Crichlow says: "Only Newham and Tower Hamlets have over 1,000 troubled families. We work very closely with the tri-boroughs (Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster councils) and they have less than 1,000 across all three authorities."

The troubled families programme was launched last year with funding of £448,000m. Its aim was to turn around the lives of 120,000 families identified as "troubled" by 2015. The expectation is that the payment by results initiative, with its focus on multi-agency working, will eventually save money.

Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, says that the average £4,500 spent on each troubled family will bring in annual savings of £15,000 by reducing the costs these families place on the police, NHS and social services. The intention is that over the next five years another 400,000 more families will be helped.

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