Recommendation 12

Family Hubs will need a high degree of autonomy to decide how best to use local assets—such as existing children’s centres and local voluntary organisations—and to identify the unique needs of their community. However, in the absence of a clear vision from Government on minimum requirements for Family Hubs, we propose that the following fundamental characteristics should be at the heart of every Hub to ensure that they meet the needs of vulnerable children and families in their area: Intensive early years (0–5) provision for families, with a focus on child health and school readiness; An open-access service, which any family with children aged 0–19 (and young adults with special educational needs and disabilities) can access if they need information, advice or guidance for family, relationship and other parenting issues; A central point for vulnerable families with children aged 0–19 to access or be directed to early intervention support and services. This provision should cover support for young carers, parenting classes (including specialist support for parents with teenagers), parental mental health services, domestic violence and addiction support services, parental relationship support (including post-separation support), children and young people’s mental health services and support for children involved in serious criminal activity; Services offered through the Family Hub should be co-produced with local children and families; NHS services (such as health visiting and maternity support), agencies tackling criminal exploitation (such as police and youth offending teams), local authority services (such as the Supporting Families Programme and children’s social care) and schools—the public service which has the most interaction with children—should be key partners in delivering Family Hub provision. They should have shared targets and integrated budgets; The voluntary sector should support the delivery and co-production of Family Hub services, working with statutory services to agree shared targets; To support early intervention, Family Hubs should create data-sharing agreements with local NHS services, local police, schools, local authorities and local voluntary organisations. While these agreements should be adapted to local needs, the Government should work with Family Hubs to develop a template agreement.