Update on Hertfordshire’s Families First Partnership Programme
Building on the back of numerous reviews and policy documents, outlining the need for change, central government issued the guidelines in March 2025 for reforms to children’s social care that it requires all local authorities to make.
Since these were issued, we have been working in partnership across Hertfordshire to co-design a system which incorporates the changes required of us - integrating family safeguarding and early help, enabling us to wrap our services and support around children and families sooner.
In Hertfordshire we have real strength in our partnership and multi-agency approaches in family safeguarding and early help, giving us firm foundations to build upon. Throughout the process of redesign, we have been working closely with partners and engaging with as many organisations and individuals as possible to reshape our services to meet the needs of families in Hertfordshire.
The journey so far
Across the partnership, lead organisations are facing significant challenges which have impacted on our ability to implement the requirements of the reform as holistically as first envisaged. However, we are committed to reforming our systems to better meet the needs of families in Hertfordshire and, ultimately, deliver better outcomes for Hertfordshire’s children.
To overcome some of these significant challenges, we are taking an incremental approach to implementation. We will be testing and refining the new system in one geographical area before rolling out the revised operational systems across Hertfordshire.
What this means for you
The strength in our partnerships will help ensure consistency throughout this period of change, both for our colleagues and the families we work with. As our teams change, we will share details where there is operational impact.
A key part of the reforms will be an increased focus on delivering services within local communities. It will also be a great opportunity for us all to work more closely together, providing the broad range of support available to families in Hertfordshire in family hubs, situated in the heart of local communities.
Support close to home
The process of identifying suitable properties to base our services within local communities is underway. We’re looking to have 24 Family Hubs spread across four regional areas in Hertfordshire; sometimes this will mean that all services (universal, targeted interventions, early help and child in need support) will take place in one location, whereas in some regions these services may operate across a number of sites.
Working together to keep children safe
Our revised model will see multi-agency child protection teams grouped together with family help, retaining and expanding key planks of the family safeguarding model across both teams. Where possible, we will be co-locating our teams and services with partner ones, to ensure families are better able to access the support they need to resolve difficulties early.
If you are interested in hearing more about the programme, and how we are implementing these national reforms in Hertfordshire, please email: FamiliesFirstPartnershipProgramme@hertfordshire.gov.uk