The Family Hub Offer
Our vision for Family Hubs
Gloucestershire County Council is investing £35million as part of the first phase of its plans to introduce the family hub model to Gloucestershire.
Its network of 17 Children and Family Centres in communities across Gloucestershire will play a key role in the development of the family hub model, offering a wide range of family support services, or signposting to other services as needed.
The county council has appointed Family Action to run its centres in Stroud and Cotswold, with Aspire Foundation Trust managing Cheltenham and Tewkesbury. The contracts began on 1 April 2024. Gloucestershire Gateway Trust will run the centres in Gloucester and the Forest of Dean with effect from 1 April 2025.
The centres will co-ordinate and facilitate family support activity locally, making it easier for families to find out about the services and support available where they live. The aim of the family hub model is to ensure all families have access to the right support, at the right time, in the right place.
The new arrangements will offer opportunities for council services to co-locate with NHS partners and other community and voluntary services under one roof, providing families with easy access to support when they need it.
The Children and Family Centres will become part of a wider network of physical and virtual family support points across the county.
What are Family Hubs?
The concept of family hubs was developed by the Centre for Social Justice (2014).
The aim is to provide local centres offering support and services for all families with children and young people aged 0 to 19, or up to age 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
Family hubs centralise a range of services in one location and act as a ‘one stop shop’ for parents and children. Trained staff provide wide-ranging support from infant feeding and early language skills to parent-infant mental health.
In March 2022, the Children’s Coalition for Gloucestershire agreed to the development of a ‘Gloucestershire Family Hub’ model which puts the wellbeing of all families, children, and young people at the heart of its work and leads to systemic and transformative change for individuals and the community.
Why is Gloucestershire introducing the Family Hub model?
We are committed to reducing inequalities and making sure that families receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time, to give all children the best start in life.
The county council is investing £35 million to support the introduction of the family hubs model across Gloucestershire, adopting a ‘whole family’ approach, taking care to listen to what children and families tell us.
Together with our partners, we will work with multi agency partners, the voluntary sector, and the local community to identify a wide range of support, using local strengths to make sure our family help offer meets the needs of local families with children of all ages.
Benefits of Family Hubs for families
Family Hubs will:
- Provide accessible advice and guidance to all families.
- Deliver high quality, evidence-based programmes of support.
- Offer welcoming and inclusive support for families with children of all ages, cultures, religions, ethnicities, and disabilities.
- Encompass services which aim to develop and sustain happiness, wellness, safety, physical and mental health, all designed with children, young people and families, delivered at the right time, in the right place.
- Develop an accessible early help offer tailored to the needs of individual communities. This will be co-produced with families so that they are listened to, respected with their voices heard and what matters to them being central to any support received.
- Ensure all children are supported through the Graduated Pathway of support.