London: David Cameron has conceded that the best interests of children can often be served if parents split up, as he moved to show that he understands the pressures on modern families.

Launching a new initiative to put families at the heart of his government, by unveiling a test to ensure all domestic policies help family life, the prime minister said he was not seeking to judge people’s behaviour.

Cameron, who praised single parents for doing “an absolutely brilliant job in bringing up children”, told Breakfast on BBC1: “There are some cases where it is better for parents to split up. I wouldn’t for one minute want to stop that. But where you can help people come together and stay together, then surely the government should play its part.”

His comment marked a change in rhetoric from his “broken Britain” message during his early years as Tory leader when he was criticised for moralising about families. The prime minister insisted that he is not being judgemental, but said he would offer greater support for families.

He told the BBC: “A lot of politicians have shied away from talking about relationships — not surprisingly, we are not perfect ourselves and no one wants to be accused of being judgemental — but when we contemplate the fact that family and relationship breakdown has enormous consequences for our society and children, I think it is worthwhile talking and acting on these things.”

Cameron was speaking as new government figures showed that Britain has 500,000 “troubled families”, costing the state more than £30 billion (Dh184 billion) a year. He is expected to say in a speech on Monday that for too long governments have taken decisions that ignore the impact on family life.

The prime minister is to unveil a series of measures to try to persuade families to stay together. Echoing the speeches he delivered in his early years as Tory leader, he will announce:

A doubling of the budget for relationship counselling to £19.5 million.

A renewed focus on the 500,000 troubled families — up from 120,000 — by helping families who face unemployment, antisocial behaviour, debt and truancy.

An initiative to encourage adoption by allowing councils to apply for help from a £19 million fund. Adopting a child from care will trigger an extra 1,900 in additional pupil premium money to their school.

A new “family test”, to ensure that every domestic policy is examined for its impact on the family.

Louise Casey, who is running the government’s initiative on troubled families, told the Sunday Times: “These families are off the barometer in the number of problems they have. This is the first time we have been able to evidence the extent of the problems.”

The family test, which Cameron will highlight, looks at the extra benefits paid to single parents, which the Tories called the “couples’ penalty”, penalising parents who stay together.

Cameron will say: “We can’t go on having government taking decisions like this, which ignore the impact on the family. I said previously that we would introduce a family test into government.

‘Centre of my life’

“Now that test is being formalised as part of the impact assessment for all domestic policies. Put simply, that means every single domestic policy that the government comes up with will be examined for its impact on the family.”

The prime minister will also return to his early personal messages about family. He will say: “For me, nothing matters more than family. It’s at the centre of my life and the heart of my politics.

“As a husband and a father I know how incredibly lucky I am to have a wonderful wife and three amazing children. But in loving my family, and in reflecting on my own upbringing, I’ve also learned something incredibly important about the way that family and politics are inextricably linked.

“Long before you get to the welfare state, it is family that is there to care for you when you are sick or when you fall on tough times. It’s family that brings up children, teaches values, passes on knowledge, instils in us all the responsibility to be good citizens and to live in harmony with others.”

Last year, Cameron persuaded the chancellor, George Osborne, to introduce the marriage tax allowance, although Osborne believes it is a waste of money.