Coventry’s Family Hub and Start for Life Programme is set to receive further government funding to allow it to continue its incredible success story.
The programme has been allocated up to around £1.5million over the next year.
City councillors will meet on 18 March to discuss the funding and what it means for the programme.
The Family Hub and Start for Life Programme was announced by the Government as a way of delivering improvements to support for babies, children, young people, parents, and carers.
The Council was chosen as one of 75 local authority areas to deliver the programme and has already received over £4million from the government. The city has been recognised as a trailblazer in the programme, and has received many national ministerial and governmental visits over the past three years to see its success first-hand.
The initial funding is due to finish this year, but the additional grant will allow the programme to continue to embed and expand across the city.
The Council runs eight Family Hubs that operate with a wide range of partners to create one-stop advice and support centres in the heart of communities. They are key to early intervention and preventing issues such as problems with health and wellbeing escalating.
They help to join up the planning and delivery of family services; and offer support to families with children of all ages up to 19 years, with services including learning support, infant feeding and parent/child relationships.
Working with partners allows families to access a range of support on one site, including education and welfare, employment Services, Early Years, midwifery, Health Visiting, The Job shop, Haven and Early Help.
Cllr Patricia Seaman, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said: “We are delighted that we have received extra funding to allow us to continue the great and trailblazing work taking place in our Family Hubs across the city.
“The figures speak for themselves and they show that families really value the Hubs and the way they bring support right into the heart of our communities.
“They are helping to make stronger families and stronger communities as parents and families build their own support networks, and this new funding will allow that invaluable work to grow.
“It is essential that we build on the success so far and expand the offer even further to help more families and continue to work to our pledge to make Coventry a truly Child Friendly City and one where families, children and young people are at the heart of all we do.”
Councillors at the Cabinet meeting will be asked to accept the additional funding for 2025/26, with a provisional maximum allocation of £1,583,700, subject to the Council meeting the programme’s expectations.
They will hear of the progress of the Hubs and Start for Life, which has seen:
- 204,686 individuals have attended 50,748 activity/interventions at a Family Hub building.
- 600 people attended a Family Hub during the two weeks in the Christmas period of 2024.
- Families can now register the birth of their baby at three of the Family Hubs, and more sites are planned for the forthcoming year. 554 babies have been registered by their parents
- In June 2024 Coventry launched the new digital “one stop shop” portal for all information, advice and support for families www.coventryfamilies.co.uk. There are currently over 7,000 users, with 78,000 page views of the partnership content.
- Over 50 local services (public and the voluntary, community and faith sector), are part of the Family hub network and work together in partnership with families, as part of the Family hub offer within the buildings and in the local communities.
- Family Hub community practitioners have been deployed to over 40 community spaces to deliver the Family offer in faith buildings, community centres, libraries, food hubs and social supermarkets, University Hospital wards, etc. taking a localised whole family approach enabling families to access the help where they need it.
- The Coventry Parent Voice Network is now an active network of over 350 parents providing feedback on the Start for Life and Family Hub offer to design, deliver and improve support and services.
The priorities for the coming two years will cover a range of projects, including strengthening the network offer by supporting ‘early help hubs’ in schools and reaching those not yet accessing the Family Hubs, and there will be more work with fathers, and the ongoing development of AI and web services.
The programme will also extend its work in giving parents a greater voice and creating opportunities for qualifications and volunteering, and will work to reach more families in vulnerable groups, such as those who are homeless or newly arrived to the city.
To find out more about the work of the Family Hubs and how they could help your family, visit www.coventryfamilies.co.uk