Agenda item

Report of the Director of Children and Young People’s Futures (CS/24/21) on future of family hubs delivery, attached.

 

Two Impact Assessments have been prepared, are attached, and also available on the website at

Family Hub Development to be delivered directly by the Council (in-house delivery) - Impact Assessment (devon.gov.uk)

The Children’s Centre Buildings Consultation - Impact Assessment (devon.gov.uk)

Decision:

RESOLVED

 

(a) the delivery of Family Hubs be undertaken directly by Devon County

Council from the 1 April 2025, including the transfer of related staff into the

authority (through a TUPE arrangement);

 

(b) that a phased approach pertaining to the former children’s centre

buildings, set out in paragraph 3.15 and the table of Actions and Mitigations at

3.16, be agreed;

 

(c) that the Director of Children and Young People’s futures and the Director

of Transformation & Business Services be given delegated authority, in

consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and the relevant

local Member, to make decisions relating to individual buildings; and

 

(d) that Cabinet ask the Children’s Scrutiny Committee to take a role in

overseeing preparations for the new service and provision and would further

welcome a review in 12 months time.

Minutes:

(Councillors Adams, Leaver and Whitton attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

 

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Director of Children and Young People’s Futures  (CS/24/21) which sought approval for the future delivery of family hubs, circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

 

The development of a Family Hubs model for Devon had been agreed by Cabinet on 11 October 2023. The proposal built on the previous £800,000 investment in Early Help, agreed at the Devon Education Forum in January 2024, and had successfully supported the expansion of the Council’s Early Help offer. The proposal to move to an in-house delivery mechanism sat within the context of the developing open access delivery model across Devon for families with children aged 0-19 (up to 25 with SEND and Care Leavers).

 

The proposals for which buildings should serve as hubs or outreach venues had been reviewed following a full statutory consultation from 6th April 2024 to 3rd July 2024 and a discussion at Children’s Scrutiny Standing Overview Group (CSOG) on 29 July 2024. At this meeting, Members supported the model of partnership working and planned work with communities to co-produce Family Hubs moving forward.

 

The Council had previously commissioned Children Centre Services in Devon, the history of the contracting arrangements were summarised in paragraph 2.3. 

 

The Council wished to reduce the number of children requiring a statutory social work intervention, therefore was reshaping and strengthening the Targeted Early Help offer which supported families with multiple or complex needs.  The aspiration is that Family hubs would work at a community level to ensure that families got the right support at an early stage to prevent escalation over time but to prioritise statutory safeguarding duties by ensuring those most in need got a clear pathway to the correct support.

 

The Report outlined the outcome of the extensive engagement with families, the themes from the professionals as well as the results of the public consultation (conducted throughout May and June 2024) on the proposals regarding the change to the current Children’s Centre service and buildings.  The results of the consultation were included in Appendix 2 of the Report and the summary at paragraph 2.9. Section 3e also explained the key themes of the consultation, with the table at 3.16 outlining those key feedback themes and the actions the Council would take to mitigate or address the points raised. An easy read version of the recommendations from the Council’s Children’s Centre Consultation were appended to these minutes.

 

Section three gave an overview of current financial position, options appraisal and proposed approach. The options appraisal considered option 1 (in house delivery, option 2 (contract extension and commissioning of a new provider) and option 3 (stop the contract and family hub arrangements with no replacement). Option 1 was preferred as it provided the highest opportunity for achieving the best outcomes for families, by delivering improvements and the right service for families and the future sustainability of Devon’s Family Hubs model. This also enabled a more flexible approach as work continued towards the creation of a coordinated pathway with a focus on developing resilience with families though community engagement.

 

The recommended option allowed the Council the flexibility to model, design and shape staffing teams and structures accordingly and the Report outlined the recent TUPE of 29 individuals into the Council who were delivering a Level 3 Targeted Family Support service for children. 

 

The Cabinet noted that the Strategic Plan had committed to being the best place to grow up, live well and prosper and Family Hubs formed part of the Council’s renewed Early Help strategy and met a key strategic priority within the children’s improvement plan to create sustainable changes that lead to good outcomes for children. 

 

Two Impact Assessments had been prepared, circulated with the agenda, and were also available on the website at

Family Hub Development (in-house delivery) - Impact Assessment. This first Impact Assessment focused on the proposed implementation of the Family Hub Model in Devon within the context of the developing open access delivery model across Devon and the proposal to move to an in-house delivery mechanism. This included changes in how and where services are delivered, an improved outreach offer and access to digital support. 

 

The second Impact Assessment - The Children’s Centre Buildings Consultation - Impact Assessment focussed on the current Children’s Centre buildings, some of which would be used as Family Hub bases moving forward but some were not suitable and, as a result, alternative arrangements were being proposed.

 

In summary, and subject to agreement, officers would seek to expedite discussions with Action for Children to focus the development plan on the steps required to bring the Family Hubs model in house and to work with communities to ensure hub and outreach spaces were appropriate to the needs of local families.  The intent would be to transfer all staff and agreed buildings by April 2025, with further phasing of the key areas identified by the end of April 2025.

Supporting documents: