Council considers the opportunities for Family Hubs programme

16 June 2022

North Northamptonshire Council has today agreed to adopt a Family Hub Model for North Northamptonshire. The Council was recently identified as one of the 75 Local Authorities nationally who will be designated as a ‘Family Hub Development’ authority.  As a result, the Council will have access to additional Government funding to reshape services and improve access to services and support.

In October 2021, as part of the Government’s Spending Review, the Government announced over £300m to transform Start for Life and Family Hub services in 75 upper tier local authorities across England. The programme will fund a network of Family Hubs, Start for Life and family help services, including breastfeeding services, parenting programmes and parent-infant mental health support.

The objective of the programme is to improve whole family service delivery, address disproportionality, inequalities and drive improved health and education outcomes.

Research shows that effective early intervention can improve children’s wellbeing, educational attainment and life chances, reduce family poverty, improve mental health and reduce negative outcomes such as unemployment which carry significant cost to society.

The intention is that over a three-year period, better ways of working and sharing information will be developed, led by the local authority. It is expected that Family Hubs will enhance integrated working by enabling easier access to support, better outcomes for families, more effective service delivery and smarter use of budgets. They are a way of joining up locally to improve access to services, the connections between families, professionals, services providers, and putting relationships at the heart of family help.

The national Family Hubs programme will provide best practice and related guidance to each Council, to help them identify the best model for individual areas.

The Family Hubs model provides a significant opportunity for our local communities. We will be working closely with the local communities to ensure that the Family Hub Model will be based upon local need and be developed together with children, parents, carers and the wider community partnership.Cllr Scott Edwards, Executive Member for Children, Families, Education and Skills

This is excellent news for North Northamptonshire.  Now that we have made the decision to adopt a Family Hub Model, we will get on with the task of establishment of a Partnership Board and commencement of work on the Family Hubs model.Cllr Jason Smithers, Leader of the Council

Updates on the national programme as it impacts on North Northamptonshire will be presented to the Executive Advisory Panel for Education, Employment and Skills on 30th June 2022.