Posted on Tuesday 8th October 2024
Mark Sutton, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people.
A service that delivers early support to families across Staffordshire could be set to continue.
Since 2010, Staffordshire County Council has commissioned family support services, which provides early help for families within the voluntary sector.
Crucially, this service helps children and their families tackle root causes of problems within families, making them less likely to need additional specialist support in the future. This reduces the pressure on higher-tier county council services. From 2018 to 2024, this service supported more than 7,800 families.
The county council’s cabinet will consider options for recommissioning the service, with the existing contract expiring on 31 March 2025.
If agreed, the service will go through a competitive tender process, with the new service starting on 1 April 2025.
Mark Sutton, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said:
“It is important to ensure that every family in Staffordshire has access to all the help they need from an early stage. Early intervention is key to preventing the need for additional specialist support in the future and helps families to feel safe, happy and supported in their communities.
“Our current arrangement to commission family support is working well. With the contract coming to an end, we will need to ensure that these services remain in place so that we can continue to achieve a high rate of successful outcomes for families.
“Families have told us this service has really made a difference in their lives from helping children and young people to get a good education to improving relationships, mental health and physical health.”
Cabinet will discuss these options on Wednesday 16 October.