- Multi-million pound investment to create more Family Hubs
across the country, building on a manifesto commitment
- More communities in England will benefit from integrated
family support services in health, education and care
- Support for families to tackle issues early-on as more
councils are invited to be part of new project
Thousands of vulnerable or low-income families in England will
benefit from a multi-million-pound investment to improve access
to early education, health and care services.
Delivering on a manifesto commitment, the Government has today
(Thursday 19 August) set out plans to elevate its Family Hubs
programme, backed by £20 million of new funding, that will
support councils to set up new Family Hubs in up to 10 new areas.
Family Hubs offer families, children and young people somewhere
to access a range of support services, which can include early
education and childcare, mental health support, meetings with
health visitors or attending parenting classes, counselling or
advice for victims of domestic abuse.
The hubs – delivered in person and supported virtually via online
services – help families, children and young people more easily
access the help they need, regardless of where in the country
they live. They bring services together into one place,
preventing parents and carers from having to search for different
types of support that might otherwise be too hard to find,
especially for those on lower incomes, helping build connections
between families, professionals and voluntary services.
Children and Families Minister
said:
“It is absolutely vital that all families across England have
access to the same high quality services in their local
communities, no matter where they live. Services like these which
offer early help and intervention can make a huge difference for
parents and carers, levelling up opportunities for every child to
fulfil their potential.
“That is why we are championing Family Hubs, and this additional
£20 million investment will drive forward this programme, helping
to grow and expand hubs across the country so that even more
parents and children can access the early health and education
services we know can have a lifelong positive impact.”
The £20 million announced today, awarded from the Treasury’s
Shared Outcomes Fund, will include:
- £10 million for the Family Hubs ‘Transformation
Fund’, which will support local authorities to open family
hubs in approximately 10 new areas of England. Family Hubs are
already operating in several areas of England, providing vital
support services to vulnerable families; and
- £10 million to expand the ‘Growing Up Well’ digital
project, designed to level up outcomes for vulnerable and
disadvantaged families. This involves improving how information
is shared between professionals working with families and
children in these Hubs.
This builds on the Government’s manifesto commitment to champion
Family Hubs so that they help provide families, including those
who are more vulnerable, with intensive support for their
children, not just in the early years but throughout their lives.
The Government has already invested £14 million to deliver on
this commitment, including the introduction of a national centre
for family hubs earlier this year, led by the Anna Freud Centre
to scale-up the number of Family Hubs and spread best practice on
what works well to Hub providers across England.
Many councils have already started to open Family Hubs,
benefitting families across the country. Theyoften operate an
‘open door’ approach, with families able to have better access to
vital services and receive support from a range of professionals,
including midwives, health visitors, GPs, schools or social
services.
Today’s investment follows publication of the Best Start for Life: A
Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, led by the Rt Hon
and published by the Department for Health and Social
Care in March 2021, which identified six action areas which will
help to have a transformational impact for babies and their
families.
One action area was to championing Family Hubs as a place where
parents and carers can access Start for Life services. So the
National Centre for Family Hubs will make sure councils
understand how best to build a Family Hub network and to take
steps at a national and local level to reduce the stigma some
parents or carers experience when asking for help.
The Department for Education also recently launched a second
round of recruitment for three more local area partners for the
Family Hubs-Growing Up Well project.
Three additional local councils primarily based in disadvantaged
areas will be recruited as part of the project to help develop
data and digital products to support the practical implementation
of Family Hubs. This will involve working with the Department to
provide local insights to help develop digital solutions that
reflect their community’s local needs.
The project aims to improve how professionals collaborate and
plan for families, with a particular focus on improving how
information is shared and improving access and navigation of
services for families and builds on work already being carried
out by both Bristol City Council and Lancashire County Council
who were recruited in the first round of the project.