Report of the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People shared details of the emerging development of the Family Hubs. This was part of the manifesto pledge to champion Family Hubs across England, bringing together a whole family approach enabling families access to early advice, information and support at a local level.
The Committee considered details of the emerging vision for the development of Family Hubs in Staffordshire, demonstrating how ambitions for Family Hubs would contribute to the delivery of the Families Strategic Partnership Children, Young People and Families Strategy, the Early Help Strategy and the development of the Place Based Approach for Children and Families. Members received details of the emerging thinking regarding the development of the Family Hub Model. They were reminded that evidence showed a child’s experiences from conception to five played a critical role in their development. Measurable gaps in outcomes between disadvantaged and vulnerable children and their peers could emerge early before children were two years of age with these being difficult and costly to close. In particular, evidence showed that a child’s home environment, and parent-child relationships, were central to early development and there was a strong financial case for providing Early Help at this age to prevent later more costly support.
Family Hubs were designed to overcome difficulties some families may face in understanding how to access support, improving the coordination of national and local services and their delivery to vulnerable and disadvantaged families with children aged from conception to nineteen. Members heard that whilst the pandemic provided a challenging backdrop, it had sharpened awareness of the risk faced by some disadvantaged and vulnerable families of being left behind and had encouraged local agencies to explore greater integration and enhanced partnership working.
Staffordshire has a well-developed existing network of Children’s Centres which currently focused provision on the Early Years. This network of Children’s Centres (operated through the Early Years Coordination Service) sought to deliver a seamless integrated service within communities in relation to the Early Years. The delivery of Staffordshire’s Children’s Centres was underpinned by the Children Centre Statutory Guidance. This statutory guidance stated that Local Authorities were required to consult with families if they planned to make changes to the delivery of the Children’s Centre Services. With this in mind the Committee’s support was sought to engage in a period of consultation with families to develop the Children’s Centre’s into Family Hubs with a broader age remit and offer of holistic placed based support working with partners.
Members heard that the aim was to develop a Staffordshire Family Hub model which:
a) brought together a range of provision into a coherent, connected and accessible offer to families around a local place, supporting them to achieve and maintain positive outcomes and seek to prevent needs from escalating;
b) placed a focus on early help and prevention with the communities of Staffordshire;
c) took a whole-family approach and was available to families with children aged 0- 19 (and up to 25 for those with SEND), providing services for the all, the some and the few;
d) had physical presence within a community as well as an online offer and maximised the use of existing resources within a locality, as part of our Place Based Approach; and
e) adopted a Restorative Practice Model, which seeks to build and maintain healthy relationships and a sense of community.
Developing the Family Hub Model would build upon the Early Help Systems Guide, developed by the MHCLG’ which outlined their vision for the early help landscape. This had evidenced several factors which contributed towards delivering improved outcomes and preventing problems from worsening. Over the Summer 2021, the intention was to work together with stakeholders to further develop the approach to Family Hubs to reflect the Staffordshire local context and the needs of Staffordshire’s children, young people and families which would inform a report to Cabinet in September 2021.
Members noted that access to the Family Hub would not be dependent upon a formal assessment. However, formal assessments would be undertaken where appropriate in relation to the level of need.
The Committee were informed that as a key component of Staffordshire’s early help offer, Family Support was commissioned on a countywide basis, but with a locality footprint. In line with the Place Based Page Approach, commissioners worked with the Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector to develop the community and voluntary sector market in localities. This resulted in local community organisations being commissioned to deliver whole-family tier 2 support, which joined up services around the family to tackle root causes. The commissioned Family Support services made a significant contribution to achieving targets set by the MHCLG in relation to the Building Resilient Families and Communities (BRFC) programme.
Members were pleased to note that demand was monitored, and service delivery performance managed, by SCC. Monitoring indicated that there continued to be a need for this service provision across the county. Current investment into the Family Support Service contract was circa £2 million per annum. This included SCC investment of £700,000 and external funding from the BRFC budget. The intention was to invest BRFC money for 21/22, subject to an MHCLG decision regarding the continuation of this funding beyond March 2022.
Whilst it was anticipated that Children’s Centres would form the foundation of the emerging Family Hub Model, the staffing model currently in place would need to be further developed to support the evolving role of the Family Hub. The management of Children’s Centres was currently facilitated through a commissioned Early Years Coordination Service working together with the Internal Children and Families Business Support Service with contractual arrangements due to come to an end in March 2022. Prior to April 2022, it is proposed to work together with key stakeholders to undertake a review of the Early Years Coordination Service and the Internal Children and Families Business Support Service (in connection to Children’s Centres) to develop a model which ensured the continued delivery of the Children’s Centre Core Offer, whilst developing an integrated infrastructure for the emerging Family Hub. Members received details of the phased approach to Family Hub development.
Members noted Children’s Centres had been closed during the Pandemic and queried how services had been delivered and when the Centres would be reopened. Whilst the physical buildings had been closed the services had continued in a variety of ways, including a full on-line service provision. Government guidance would direct when the Children’s Centres buildings re-opened. Some concerns were shared for those families unable to access on-line support and the importance of face to face support was emphasised. The Committee was pleased to note that face to face contact had been ongoing through a range of settings, including schools, parks, family gardens, to ensure support continued. Some families indicated they preferred on-line support, feeling less judged and more able to be open using on-line support.
Concerns were raised over a potential overreliance on voluntary sector for service delivery as well as the previous reductions in youth service, children centre and health visitor services when the evidence used for the concept of Family Hubs was the importance of early support. The right balance of service provision between in-house and the voluntary sector services was always considered. Many local volunteers working within Children Centres had previously received services themselves and wanted to add invaluable support from their own life experience at a local level. The Council was not unique in having to consider how to deliver services differently to accommodate financial pressures. Service delivery had changed and new and innovative ways to support Staffordshire residents had been developed.
RESOLVED: That:
a) the emerging national context and local strategic vision for the development of Family Hubs across Staffordshire as well as the future commissioning intentions in relation to Family Hubs, specifically in respect of Family Support Services and the Early Years Coordination Service (Children’s Centres) be supported;
b) the proposed incremental development of Family Hubs across Staffordshire through the development of an integrated model of working be noted and further development of Family Hubs be considered by the Safeguarding Overview and Scrutiny Committee within twelve months following public consultation.
Supporting documents: