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Local authorities in some of the most deprived areas of the country are to be given £40m to tackle long-term unemployment, the government has announced.
The funds will be shared between 61 local authorities, intended to provide direct support for up to 70,000 families.
Various projects could be funded including outreach programmes and improving links through social landlords, who can become the "doorway" for council-led agency interventions.
The funding is to be distributed through the additional Working Neighbourhood Fund, which has provided £1.5bn since 2008 to help councils decided how to best tackle worklessness.
Local authorities were chosen because of their ranking on the 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation and are among the districts with the country's highest non-employment rates.
Communities secretary John Denham said: "We're determined to do more to help these families, they need to know they have not fallen through the net, or been written off.
"Their circumstances are often complex and they feel cut off from the job market.
"That's why today I'm announcing £40m of new funding for councils to make sure these families are getting the helping hand they need from local services so they can start to stand on their own two feet."
This week the number of people unemployed in the UK increased again in the three months to September, totalling 2.46 million in the quarter.
And the number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose by 12,900 to 1.64 million in October.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd