Councils urged to set up family hubs

During a speech at a conference organised by the Anna Freud Centre Will Quince launched a  Transformation Fund for councils to apply for funding to help them open family hubs in their area by March 2024.

The Anna Freud Centre leads the National Centre for Family Hubs, which is funded by the Department for Education to provide expert advice and guidance and work with local authorities to champion the family hub approach.

Of the £500m announced for children and families in last week's budget , £82 million will be given to 75 local authorities to set up new family hubs.

Quince said, ‘An effective family hub acts a simplifying “front door”, making it easier for families to navigate what can be a complex system. The aim is to make the family hub a non-stigmatising access point for universal services – such as those crucial Start for Life services - with additional help on offer for those who need it most.'

Family hubs bring together services for children of all ages – from 0-19 or up to 25 for special educational needs to respond to the needs of the whole family.

Quince said that the £12 million family hubs Transformation Fund would support at least 12 local authorities in England to open family hubs.

'I am pleased to announce that from today the fund is open to applications from local authorities. We have also published Transformation Fund application guidance, which includes further information around the three principles for family hubs, which local authorities may find helpful in designing and developing their proposals.’

The minister also set out more details about how family hubs will work and gave an update on what was already underway in some local areas.

‘At their simplest, a family hub is where families with children of all ages know they can get help and support,' he said. 'They may go to a building, or they may access that help online – or maybe a mix of the two. The exact service offer will vary from place to place, as it should, reflecting the needs of the local population, but will have a great Start for Life offer for parents, carers and babies at its core.

‘Of course, this in itself is not a new idea. We have had family services, family support units, children’s centres for many years.

‘But the family hub model builds on what we have learned, what local councils and professionals have learned, and what families have told us all, about how to give them the very best support we can – the support that they deserve. This is summarised in the three principles that characterise and define family hubs – access, connections, and relationships.’

He said hubs ‘create a clear access point, and a relationship with services that does not end as children grow older’, with physical and virtual services ‘brought under one banner’ through communication and outreach.

There will be outreach and online services, he said, but ‘access to face-to-face services remain as crucial as ever, and so the family hub building will remain at the heart of family help.'

Quince added, ‘As I have set out, if we are to achieve our ambitions for family hubs, there are many “behind the scenes” challenges to overcome so that families experience effective joined up services. Data and digital are key. We are working with a number of local authorities to identify solutions.

‘My department has already begun this work with local authorities in Bristol and Lancashire,' he said.

‘And, I am delighted to announce that Salford, Suffolk, and Tower Hamlets will join this stream of work, following a successful second round of recruitment for this project.’

Evaluation of family hubs

The minister also highlighted the work being carried out to evaluate the work of family hubs. 

In March 2021, Ecorys was commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) to lead a consortium carrying out a programme of research for the Family Hubs Evaluation Innovation Fund, as part of £2.5m for research and the development of best practices around family hubs.

Feasibility studies of family hub models are looking at local delivery models and approaches to evaluation as part of the family hubs evaluation innovation fund.

The first research reports have just been published as part of the evaluation of family hubs.

The scoping report summarises the approach to the mixed-methods evaluation of family hub models, presenting the findings of work carried out between April and September 2021 as part of an initial scoping and feasibility phase.

It looks at family hubs in five local authorities: Essex, Leeds, Bristol, Suffolk and Sefton.

The second report is a feasibility study evaluating the Doncaster Family Hub Model.

• More information on the Family Hubs Transformation Hub is available here
• The evaluation reports are available here