Family Hubs and Start for Life programme launched to support families

The government has today (9 February) announced that families across England will be offered help and support with issues such as infant feeding, mental health and relationship building.

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme will support 75 councils in England, backed with £300 million of government funding up to 2025, to improve health and education outcomes for babies,
children and their families.

Family hubs bring together services for families with children aged 0 to 19 years or 25 years for those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Following a competitive bidding process, 14 councils have been selected as programme trailblazers. Trailblazers will:

• lead the way in delivering the programme, making the fastest and most ambitious improvements to services for families
• share learning and best practice with other areas, including those not receiving programme funding

The government also confirmed today the five areas that will receive funding from the Family Hubs Transformation Fund, which will transition services which used to operate under the Sure Start banner over
to the Family Hub model. This will enable a further 12 councils in England to open family hubs by March 2024.