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What is a Best Start Family hub?
Best Start Family Hubs are being rolled out in England by the government to help parents access a wide range of support from early years activities, parenting classes and advice on topics such as debt, health, youth services and substance misuse.
They offer whole family support from pregnancy to transition to adulthood at 19 (or 25 years old for young people with SEND).
Up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs are opening across England and will be operating by 2028.
The family hubs act as a ‘one stop shop’ for parents. The hubs are designed to help parents cut off from community networks. They can boost children’s life chances, early development, wellbeing and future attainment.
Hubs link up NHS services, housing, child specialists etc, to provide help to parents early before issues escalate.
The hubs were originally set up by the Conservative government in 2021 and are based on Sure Start Children’s Centres, a Labour government initiative back in 1999.
Best Start Family Hubs also offer interventions and courses for parents. These include stay and play groups and parenting classes to help you manage your child’s emotional needs.
What services do Best Start Family Hubs provide?
Best Start Family Hubs will help families with services:
- Activities for children aged 0-5.
- Birth registration.
- Debt and welfare advice.
- Domestic abuse support.
- Early language support.
- Health visiting.
- Housing support.
- Infant feeding support.
- Mental health services.
- Midwifery/maternity services.
- Nutrition and weight management.
- Oral health improvement.
- Parenting Support.
- Reducing parental conflict.
- SEND support and services.
- Stop smoking support.
- Substance (alcohol/drug) misuse support.
- Support for separating/separated parents.
- Youth services.
Who can get help at a Best Start Hub?
The Best Start Family Hubs are available to every family regardless of income and targeted support is given to those most in need.
Family hubs are for:
Parents/carers of children aged 0–19 (or 25 for SEND).
Pregnant women
Children and young people (up to 19, or 25 with SEND)
Why are Best Start Family Hubs opening?
Family Hubs were originally introduced by the Conservative government in 2021 and now the scheme is being expanded by the Labour government.
The government has announced it will roll out the family hubs in every local authority in England by April 2028.
Best Start Family Hubs aim to give every child the best start in life. Hubs do this by connecting parents with other local families, specialist services, play facilities and group activities.
The advice and resources available at hubs for families will help drive improvements in children’s development and transition to adulthood.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Every child – no matter their background – deserves the best start in life. I know what it’s like to grow up in a family where work is low-paid and insecure, and I know the power of a good support network.”
Some parents find it difficult to know where to go for help with their children. Services can feel disconnected and hard to navigate, especially if a child has additional needs. Health services face pressures like fewer health visitors and lower vaccination rates. Some families can’t access help at all.
Family hubs are based upon Sure Start Children’s Centres and research shows that children who lived within a short distance of a Sure Start children’s centre for their first five years were more likely to achieve five good GCSEs at grades age 16.
Family hubs expand provision offered by Sure Start Children’s Centres to fill gaps in family support at a time when many Sure Start Children’s Centres have closed or cut back services. The number of Sure Start Children’s Centres in England reduced in number from 3,620 in 2010 to 2,204 in 2023.
What is the difference between a Best Start Family Hub and a Sure Start Children’s Centre?
Both Best Start Family Hubs and Sure Start Children’s Centres are a ‘one-stop shop’ for parents needing help and advice. They both cover issues such as a child’s early years development and health and offer access to local early years activities and specialist advice.
Here are the differences between Family Hubs and Sure Start Children’s Centres:
- Family hubs offer family support from pregnancy to transition to adulthood at 19 years old (or 25 years old for young people with SEND). This is different from Sure Start Children’s Centres, which support families with children from pregnancy to five-years-old.
- Family hubs are for everyone, but support is focused on those most in need. This differs from Sure Start Children’s Centres which primarily supported disadvantaged areas and families with higher need.
- Family Hubs connect health, education, charities, social care etc but Sure Start Children’s Centres offer early years support run by local authorities or the voluntary sector.
- Best Start Family Hubs build on the legacy of Sure Start Centres by expanding to provide even more services for parents. Family hubs provide everything offered by Sure Start, plus mental health, domestic abuse support, youth services, housing, employment, SEND services etc.
- For example, unlike Sure Start children’s Centres, Best Start Family Hubs have a children and family services professional trained to support children with additional needs. SEND specialists will identify children who may need extra support before starting school.
- At Family Hubs, a new Best Start digital service will help parents to access advice faster and connect them to the NHS App and their local Best Start Family Hub.
‘Sure Start helped level playing field’
Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson explains why the government is expanding Family Hubs, saying: “I saw firsthand how initiatives like Sure Start helped level the playing field in my own community, transforming the lives of children by putting in place family support in the earliest years of life.
“As part of our Plan for Change, we’re building on its legacy for the next generation of children.
“Making sure hard-working parents are able to benefit from more early help is a promise made, and promise kept – delivering a lifeline of consistent support across the nation, ensuring health, social care and education work in unison to ensure all children get the very best start in life.”