Agenda item

Report from the Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1. Notes the update and progress made in the delivery of the Family Hubs programme over the last year.

2. Approves a consultation on proposals to deregister the existing Children’s Centres to enable the Council to move forward with the Family Hubs programme and for the decision, based on the consultation, to be delegated to the Executive Director for Children and Young People’s Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.

3. Approves, in line with government requirements and to ensure consistency for families, that Family Hubs and Children’s Centre buildings are renamed as either Best Start Family Hubs or “Connect” Best Start Family Hubs, in line with the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies Programme expectations.

4. Notes the future of the programme with additional grant funding to embed the model and agrees that the decision to accept and allocate this funding be delegated to the Executive Director for Children and Young People’s Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update on the successful delivery of the Family Hubs programme and the future of the programme as confirmed by the Government. It also recommended a consultation to formally deregister and rebrand the Children’s Centre buildings to enable them to move into the Family Hubs system, bringing all delivery in line with the Department for Education’s new Best Start Family Hubs programme and current guidance.

In 2022 Rotherham was one of 75 pre-selected Local Authorities (based on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Indices (IDACI) Average Rank) who were invited to sign up to the Family Hubs and Start for Life 3 year programme (ending in March 2025), without the need to complete a competitive bid, for grant funding of £3.4m. The aim was to have an improved ‘whole family’ approach to service delivery, with broader co-location of partners and services, utilising existing premises. It involved a highly transformative way of working, rather than simply investing in unsustainable front-line capacity. Cabinet accepted the proposed approach and the proposed spend of grant funding in February 2023.

Prior to the scheduled end of the programme, in January 2025, the Government announced a 12 month extension from 31st March, 2025 – 1st April, 2026. To support this work, grant funding of £1.1m was made available to Rotherham. The purpose of the extension was to support continued delivery of integrated services for families with children up to age 19 (and up to 25 for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and further develop and embed the Family Hub model, providing a one-stop-shop for families needing advice and support, particularly in areas with high levels of deprivation. In July 2025, in a Policy paper entitled ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, the Government set out its intention to strengthen support services for families, and to build on the Family Hubs and Start for Life approach (as well as their previous Sure Start approach), to create ‘Best Start Family Hubs’ across all areas of the country.

On 6th November, 2025 Rotherham received a provisional allocation of £5,052,800 for financial years 2026-29. There was now a clear and strong commitment from Government to retaining the Family Hubs identity, supported by the continued roll out of Family Hubs across the country and ongoing funding for Rotherham through the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies programme. The Council committed a further £370,000 in March 2024 to support Early Help Services including an additional 300 universal sessions for under 5s annually. These were divided equally across the Borough, providing universal activities such as new birth celebration sessions; baby massage; baby first aid; treasure basket sessions; reach, roll and play sessions; talking tots; toddler yoga; stay and play groups; and baby weigh sessions. 

The report provided updates on Family Hubs; Connect Family Hubs and Community Network Family Hubs. The 7 dedicated workstreams under which the programme delivery would take place were set out in section 2.2 of the report. These were transformation (including digital connectivity); Parenting Support; Infant Feeding; Perinatal Mental Health and Parent Infant Relationships; Home Learning Environment; Start for Life Offer; and Parent Carer Panels.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the update and progress made in the delivery of the Family Hubs programme over the last year.

2.    Approves a consultation on proposals to de-register the existing Children’s Centres to enable the Council to move forward with the Family Hubs programme and for the decision, based on the consultation, to be delegated to the Executive Director for Children and Young People’s Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.

3.    Approves, in line with Government requirements and to ensure consistency for families, that Family Hubs and Children’s Centre buildings are renamed as either Best Start Family Hubs or “Connect” Best Start Family Hubs, in line with the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies Programme expectations. 

4.    Notes the future of the programme with additional grant funding to embed the model and agrees that the decision to accept and allocate this funding be delegated to the Executive Director for Children and Young People’s Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.