In the early weeks of his premiership, Rishi Sunak pledged to build a society that values families. As reported in Nursery World, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Budget pledged an additional £500m to childcare providers, but it offered little else by way of additional funding for family support.
The coming months will be make or break as to whether Sunak can meet his early commitments. Recent years have been tumultuous for parents and children. Both have faced the disruption the pandemic caused to normal life, exacerbated more recently by the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
Attention now turns to manifestos ahead of the upcoming election, so what should the Government do to go further to support families?
Successfully roll out the childcare vision
Billed by the Chancellor as the biggest investment by a UK government into childcare in history, the extension of free childcare will see spending double to around £8bn a year.
The policy is hugely ambitious, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that questions remain over whether it will hit its first rollout target of April 2024. Setbacks to date include IT system issues, delays in funding allocation and staff shortages.
Some criticism has also focused on the pace at which funding is being injected into the system, with the majority not coming until after the general election.
Making a success of the initial rollout is crucial for the Government, and a strong start to the childcare expansion from April will breed confidence from across the sector. Labour will also be watching closely, with Nursery World reporting last year that the opposition is unlikely to replicate the Conservative’s universal approach to the roll out.
Confirming Family Hubs funding and extending the policy
It was announced in early 2024 that Family Hubs are now open in all 75 selected local authorities. The Government announced £300m of investment into the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme in 2021, a relative drop in the ocean compared to childcare.
Family Hubs are a fantastic initiative, providing support and information to families through a plethora of services, including perinatal mental health, parent-infant relationship support, and parenting programmes.
Confirming continued funding of the existing Hubs must be a priority, as must committing to extending the roll out to include every local authority in the country.
A Family Hub extension already has support. David Fothergill from the Local Government Association (LGA) recently said the LGA would ‘like to see this scheme extended to all councils so these transformative benefits can be felt across the country.’ This is a policy that looks affordable and that could have a big impact in providing support to every family that needs it in the country.
Use evidence-based parenting programmes to improve SEN support
Support for children with special educational needs is firmly back in the news agenda. According to the FOI data, there are more than 20,000 cases of families waiting longer than the 20-week limit to be issued with an education, health and care plan.
This speaks to a broader issue in family policy in England. Assessment is a long and arduous process for families. More help needs to be provided, and earlier.
Alongside an extension of Family Hubs to cover the whole of England, a logical next step to improving outcomes for families of children with SEND is to universally roll out evidence-based parenting programmes. The dearth of specialist support has placed the onus more on parents, and that’s why support for those parents can be transformational.
Committing to the universal rollout of evidence-based parenting programmes can help to bridge the gap by offering parents targeted support they can access anywhere. Making the offer universal can also destigmatise seeking support and provide strategies to help manage development and potential challenges.
Such an approach was recently taken in Australia using Triple P’s Stepping Stones parenting programmes, tailored specifically for children with developmental disabilities. Parents reported reduced stress, improved child behaviour, and that those improvements were maintained a year later. Stepping Stones Triple P is already one of the most widely used programmes in the UK, and matching the Australian offer of a universal parenting programme rollout would add a key layer of support to parents and carers of children with SEND.