Proposals for the roll-out of new Family Hub centres

Devon County Councils proposals on how they would like to use their former Children’s Centre buildings in a new network of Family Hubs has been launched today.

The proposals would see ten main Family Hub centres across the county, at least one in every District council area.  These would be bases from which families can access the wider range of support that Family Hubs offer, with meeting rooms, space for groups to use, and for staff to meet and train.

In addition to the main hubs, there would be wide number of outreach hub spaces in local communities, using buildings such as schools, libraries, community hospitals and community centres, for families to access services closer to home, in trusted spaces they already know.

Much of the work currently offered by Children’s Centres is done in families’ own homes or by using community venues nearby, so the proposed outreach Family Hub spaces is already a familiar model for many families.

The Council are launching their consultation today (Wednesday 8 May) about how it would like to use its existing buildings, with proposals for each of the current Children’s Centre sites.

The move from Children’s Centres to Family Hubs is a national one, with the government announcing the transition in 2021. Local councils across the country have since been making the transition, with our County Councillors agreeing last year to the development of Family Hubs in Devon.

Family Hubs are different and broader in scope than previous Children’s Centres, supporting a wider age range of children and young people, and linking-in with the many existing local groups to offer a wider range of family support.

Where Children’s Centres in Devon have for some years offered support to families of children aged zero to eight years-old, referred to them by a GP or other professional, the new Family Hubs will offer targeted and universal support to all families of children aged from zero to 19, or up to 25 years old for young people with special educational needs or disabilities.

Support available from Family Hubs will be accessible to all families with children in that age range, rather than via a third-party referral.

And Family Hubs will work more closely with existing care and support providers in local communities, so there will be a wider range of help and advice available to families.

They have been engaging with families who have been using Devon’s children’s centres, to give them a better understanding of how families use them, and what they value most from them.

The national drive is for Family Hubs to provide increased and improved access to community services such as maternity services; midwifery and health visiting; statutory, voluntary and community services; as well as some services not traditionally associated with early years, such as Department for Work and Pensions, and registration services.  

Alongside our partners, the charity Action for Children, which has been running Children’s Centres in Devon on the council’s behalf for years, we adopted the new Family Hubs model of working last month, and we are now supporting families of this wider age range of children and young people.

The charity is helping us, as it is also helping Plymouth and Torbay councils, with the transition from Children’s Centres to Family Hubs.

The consultation will run until midnight on Wednesday 3 July.

For more information and to take part in the consultation please visit the Have Your Say website.