Agenda item

Officers presented the report.

The Family First reforms were described as the most significant changes in a number of years. The programme involved close collaboration with the DfE and strategic partners including health, education, police, and voluntary sector agencies. Oversight was provided by an Executive Transformation Group, comprising senior leaders from multiple agencies, ensuring accountability across all workstreams.

A detailed delivery plan had been completed and submitted to the DfE, who the Council met with quarterly for feedback. Hillingdon also worked with other local authorities and was supported by the London Innovation and Improvement Alliance.

Quarter 1 involved extensive consultation with practitioners and staff. This phase was complete and the programme was now in delivery and transformation.

DfE grant funding had supported the recruitment of two part-time Participation Officers with lived experience to lead co-production with families, as well as the creation of a Data Analyst Apprenticeship, ring-fenced for a care experienced young person to reinforce the commitment and responsibilities as corporate parents.

The Family Help Service had gone live on 27 August, creating 11 locality-based teams aligned to family hubs and children’s centres. Key workers and social workers had been integrated to create locality focused multi-disciplinary teams. Workforce capacity had increased, particularly among alternative qualified key workers, supported by additional service managers providing local leadership and quality assurance.

A New Beginnings team had been launched at the end of November, supporting families during pregnancy and early infancy. This was now supporting 11 families, and demonstrated good working relationships, particularly with midwifery colleagues. Demonstrating early success, one family had already been supported and safely stepped down from further intervention. A care experienced young person volunteered with the team. This model also had potential for preventing children entering care, reducing trauma and generating financial savings. The DfE had expressed significant interest in this work at the December quarterly meeting.

The Stronger Families Hub, co-located at the Civic Centre since 01 December, provided representation from Probation, Housing, Health, Education, Police, Youth services, Domestic Abuse specialists, and SEND services. This arrangement enabled multi-agency triage at first contact, improving signposting and support for children and families.

Eight Lead Child Protection Practitioners had been recruited, mostly internal promotions, to oversee the child protection journey in line with the family first reforms.

One of the key elements within the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill was around Family Group Decision Making and making that mandatory at pre-proceeding stage. However, Hillingdon had long practised this model, commissioning external providers for family group conferencing. Family Group Decision Making aligned well with the Family Help model and will be strengthened and integrated further.

The reforms introduced new data requirements. Officers were working with Digital & Intelligence teams to develop live Power BI dashboards for managers. These will improve real time monitoring of caseloads, outcomes and performance.

Hillingdon worked effectively with schools, particularly in early intervention. School leaders contributed at both strategic and operational levels within the safeguarding partnership and the Executive Transformation Group.

Officers explained that a Kinship Steering Group had been established, involving housing, education, psychology services, SEND, early help, the Virtual School and MAPS. A new local kinship offer was under co-production with families and professionals, with launch planned for March 2026. This offer will include financial support, housing support, education advice, clear minimum standards; and alignment with national expectations of kinship carer support. Officers acknowledged that without kinship carers, pressure on fostering and residential services would increase. National organisations were supporting the alignment of Hillingdon’s kinship approach.

Members commended the initiative and asked if partnership working was functioning effectively. Officers highlighted strong strategic buy-in from police, health and schools. Challenges remained, partly because the Met Police covered 32 boroughs with diverse approaches. Operational relationships remained positive and consistent; partners were engaged in training and shared practice development. There was particular interest in the New Beginnings model, and health colleagues had been supportive of that.

Members asked how substantial the culture change would be, and what impact families would experience. The cultural shift was substantial. For example five teams of social workers previously did short term work, then handed cases on. Now they maintained involvement throughout the family journey, improving relationship building and consistency so that families had fewer points of change. Front door child protection decision-making will increasingly be shared across agencies, not LA-led. Families should experience fewer changes in worker, clearer, earlier access to support, better coordination through locality teams, and more relational, trauma?informed practice. Staff were highly supportive of the model and were seeing benefits in practice.

Members asked how schools were engaged, especially academies. Schools were highly engaged, with strong representation on the Executive Transformation Group and the Safeguarding Partnership Board. Participation was supported through designated safeguarding leads and school leadership networks. Education has had equal status in safeguarding governance for more than a year and the reforms built on this foundation.

Partner willingness was strong, especially from police, but some challenges arise due to system differences. The hub model was reducing stigma associated with statutory intervention and improving community-based support. Ongoing review would address any practical gaps.

Members asked how young people were engaged in decision-making, and how staff training was being managed. Family Group Decision Making ensured children and their families were engaged involved in decision-making and was embedded in day-to-day practice and will continue as a core component from first contact. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill made this mandatory at pre-proceeding stage. Hillingdon emphasised engaging fathers and wider networks, underpinned by trauma-informed practice. Staff had received trauma informed training, with further work underway through skills audits; team supervision; and reflective practice sessions. A strong foundation of relational practice already existed, while reforms aimed to deepen and standardise it.

Members noted that the report stated no financial implications, and asked how realistic this was given the scale of change. Members also asked if the DfE grant was sufficient. Given historic underfunding and high pressure, no grant was ever likely to be sufficient. However, the grant allowed increased capacity and supported transformation. It had also allowed officers to look at different ways of working. It was clarified that the grant was additional, not replacement funding; it enabled innovation and pilot testing. The Council would continue reviewing transformation to address any gaps as the model embedded.

Members asked if teams were located equitably across hubs. While the Civic Centre was the main base, teams were aligned within localities. Teams were expected to be out in the community working with families in homes, schools and libraries. Four teams covered the south east, four in the south west and three in the north of the borough, reflecting differing population and demand. This would be reviewed continuously.

Members commended the enthusiasm and hard work of the team.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the key developments and findings outlined in this report