The families first for children (FFC) model currently being tested in 10 areas is set to be rolled out to all local authorities, the chief social worker for children and families has said.
The planned nationwide expansion of the approach - which involves enhancing early help for families, involving family networks more in decision making and establishing specialist child protection teams - was revealed by Isabelle Trowler in a post on LinkedIn.
She was responding to a post on the launch of the FFC 'pathfinder' - the term used to describe the testing of the model - in the London Borough of Redbridge, one of the ten testbed areas.
Approach 'set to be rolled out across all local authorities'
"Another launch of the pathfinders - now set to be rolled out across all local authorities and with new £££ on the table too," she said. "The pathfinders are coming up with great design ideas about changing how we work with families - more help for families, greater protection for children.
Her post puts flesh on the bone of the government's announcement of a £250m children's social care prevention grant for councils in 2025-26 in a local government finance policy statement issued last month.
"This new grant will lay the groundwork for children’s social care reform, enabling direct investment in additional prevention activity through transition to family help," said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), in the statement.
The families first for children approach
FFC has four elements:- Family help: establishing local multi-disciplinary teams, merged from targeted early help and child in need services, to ensure families with multiple needs receive earlier, joined-up and non-stigmatising support to enable them to stay together.
- Multi-agency child protection teams: setting up multi-agency child protection teams, with cases held by social worker lead child protection practitioners and also including representation from health and the police.
- A bigger role for family networks: involving the wider family in decision-making about children with needs or at risk, including by using family network support packages to help children at home.
- Stronger multi-agency safeguarding arrangements: this includes an increased role for education, alongside health, police and children's social care.
The introduction of family help - one part of four FFC elements - was the key recommendation of the 2021-22 Independent Review of Children's Social Care, led by now Labour MP Josh MacAlister.
Family help the key recommendation from care review
He called on the then Conservative government to invest £2bn in the approach over four years which, along with other measures, would mean that the care population was 30,000 lower in 10 years than would otherwise have been the case, MacAlister claimed.
However, the Conservatives instead decided to test the approach from 2023-25, backed by about £37m, through the FFC pathfinder.
This prompted criticisms from both MacAlister and children's charities that delaying reform would be costly to both children and the public finances.
The Conservatives also commissioned a five-year evaluation of FFC, which is being carried out by the National Children's Bureau and research bodies Verian and Alma Economics.
Existing Labour pledges
The Labour government has already pledged to implement the other elements of FFC besides family help, in a policy paper, Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive, published in November 2024.
It promised to legislate to require councils to set up multi-agency safeguarding teams, involving representation from the police, health and education, to investigate child protection concerns and manage cases.
The DfE said the details of how the teams would work would be shaped by the evaluation of FFC.
It also pledged to mandate councils to offer families in pre-proceedings a family group decision making (FGDM) meeting, enabling them to be involved in decisions about their children’s future, where this is in the child’s best interests.
Thirdly, it said it would legislate to require representation from education in local safeguarding arrangements, at strategic and operational levels.
Children's Wellbeing Bill
These measures will likely be included in the forthcoming Children's Wellbeing Bill.
Further details of the rollout of family help will likely be set out when information is published about how councils should use the children's social care prevention grant in 2025-26.
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