Early Intervention Foundation to work with 20 best practice areas

The purpose of the ‘pioneering places’ is to form a working evidence base, allowing the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) and others areas in the country to learn from real-life examples of what works best over the next 18 months.

The Early Intervention Foundation, funded by the Department for Education, is run by the Early Intervention Consortium, which is chaired by MP Graham Allen.

The work of the ‘pioneering places’ will be used to inform national policymakers about how early intervention could be improved and made more cost-effective.

Chosen as they demonstrated substantial commitment to early intervention and innovation in its delivery, the 20 places are: Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, Croydon, Dorset, Essex, Gateshead, Hertfordshire, Islington, Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Greater Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham City, Poole, Plymouth, Solihull, Staffordshire, London Tri Brough (Westminster City Council, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Councils ), West Cheshire Partners, Wiltshire and Swindon, and Worcestershire.

In return, a national adviser from the foundation will work with each place to provide support and access to national experts, as well create a link-up service that will enable areas to share and learn from each other.

The EIF will also help to increase the spend on evidence-based early intervention within the ‘pioneering places’ and ensure early intervention programmes and services reach those most in need.

Chief executive of the Early Intervention Foundation Carey Oppenheim (right), said, ‘The EIF believes that addressing the root causes of social problems, rather than trying to fix their after-effects, is better not only for individual children but for our society as a whole. Underpinned by robust evidence our mission is to change to a predominant culture from costly late reaction to effective early intervention.

‘The first wave of 20 pioneering places will ground that mission in real life, giving us invaluable working examples of success.’

Islington Council, one of the 20 early intervention ‘pioneering places’, is working closely with local health services on the First 21 Months programme that aims to improve the co-ordination of services for parents and children from conception through to the end of the first year of a child’s life.

The council’s executive member for children and families, councilor Joe Caluori, said, ‘Preventing problems from arising in the first place and nipping any issues in the bud as early as possible, is a much more effective way of helping Islington families who may be at risk.

‘As the Early Intervention Foundation has recognised, we’ve already done some really good work around this in Islington and seen some great results.  I welcome the opportunity for us to share our experiences with others and this announcement of further support will help us continue to improve our services to reach out to Islington families who are most in need.’