The national policy landscape is in flux: the introduction of Family Hubs, the SEND and AP Improvement Plan, and the new children’s social care strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love, all demand a shift in approach towards even greater family-focused working. Improving early help services for children, young people and their families must be a critical priority for local authorities and partners.
In support of the DfE’s Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme, early help when delivered right can improve the relationship between local services and families, enabling them to offer more timely interventions that build resilience in families and reduce the number of children entering care. This can significantly reduce demand for more intensive and costly support further down the line.
This has always been true but early help is often the first children’s service at risk of cutbacks in the context of rising financial pressure on local authorities, often predominantly driven by increasing spend on children’s services. So how can local authorities make sure these services are having the demonstrable impact that we all know they can when delivered effectively?
As part of our work in this area, we often hear that councils are struggling to engage ‘hard to reach groups’. This can be true both in relation to universal and targeted support. But the term ‘hard to reach’ makes it sound as if communities are actively hiding; like moles underground, only surfacing in the dead of night when no-one else is around. So, is it that these communities are ‘hard to reach’, or is it that councils just haven’t listened to where support needs to be positioned in the first place?
The Family Hub model is being progressed across many councils, some as part of the DfE Family Hub Transformation Fund initiative and others that are going it alone. This provides a real opportunity to revitalise and remodel the current offer, building the right support alongside resources already in the community. For example, we have known Family Hubs to operate from schools, community cafés, faith centres and food banks. These should be places where families naturally go, so relationships and trust can be nurtured.
By strategically placing services in these accessible areas and enhancing visibility, families can more easily access the help they need in a space that is non-threatening and non-stigmatising to them. This could involve setting up information points, holding regular outreach events, and collaborating with local institutions to integrate service information into their regular contact with families. Simply basing services in these community venues will provide more natural opportunities to interact with families. Through these partnerships and initiatives, local authorities can significantly improve the reach and impact of early help services, including those viewed as ‘hard to reach’.
A ‘hub and spoke’ model, whereby central, main hubs are supported by smaller, perhaps more niche or more local, outlets in the community, enables councils to harness the wider resources in the community – with information and advice flowing from the hubs to reach more families and, in return, encouraging more people to access the hubs.
The development of Family Hubs is just one part of what a local early help eco-system should comprise. It is not just about buildings and where services are based, but a much broader role in enabling community development and natural support networks.
By tapping into the community’s first-hand experiences and insights, authorities can develop effective, tailored support mechanisms. This approach ensures that the services provided are relevant and responsive to the actual needs of the community, thereby increasing their effectiveness and uptake. Initiatives such as the Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities (EPEC) also provide an opportunity to enable active and respected members of the community to directly deliver services, acting as a bridge between families and statutory agencies.
Early help, when delivered right and in the right places, can form a crucial part of delivering a council’s wider Family Strategy.
This isn’t something that can be developed overnight. Many communities, especially those branded as ‘hard to reach’ have at times been ignored, missed, or even marginalized, in the past. Understandably they have developed an inter-generational mistrust of children’s services. It takes time, commitment, and strong leadership to embrace these opportunities and reimagine a better future for our countries’ children.
At Peopletoo we have a strong track record of supporting local authorities to develop and deliver their Family Hubs model based on strong community development principles, thinking creatively about how they can reach even the most marginalised communities and give them access to the types of services that their communities need.
Councils and partners can seize the opportunity by working on their early help model now.
For more information about our approach and how Peopletoo can support you and your organization on this journey, please contact us on mark.gray@peopletoo.co.uk.