Families in the North West to benefit from local support as part of nation wide rollout of Family Hubs

FAMILIES in North West will be offered help and support with issues such as:- infant feeding, mental health and relationship building thanks to Family Hubs being rolled out in local communities.  75 areas across the country will benefit from the £300 million investment up to 2025, with the new hubs offering support from conception through to age 19, or up to 25 for children with special education needs and disabilities.

Strong, supportive families make for more stable communities and happier individuals. Investing in families and making sure they get the support they need from birth through to adulthood helps with children's educational attainment, wellbeing and life chances, while also improving wider outcomes such as poor mental health and unemployment.

Previously these services could be disjointed and hard to navigate but family hubs will act as a:- '1 stop shop' to offer guidance and advice on a range of circumstances including, infant feeding, mental health support, health visits and parenting classes.

Hubs will also bring together wider wraparound services that can make a huge difference to people who need extra support; such as advice on getting into work, relationship building and stop smoking services.

To fast-track delivery of these services, 14 local Authority areas will become trailblazers and receive extra funding. These trailblazers will lead the way and support other local authorities to improve services that are offered to families, so that these can be rolled out more widely across the country.

In the North West, 3 Local authorities have received trailblazer funding to accelerate their family hub programmes. Salford and Manchester will receive funding for perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationships, infant feeding support as well as parenting support. The funding in Blackpool will be used specifically for accelerating perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationships.

This announcement builds on the Prime Minister's ambition to put families at the centre of communities and delivers on the 2019 manifesto commitment to champion Family Hubs. 

Children, Families and Wellbeing Minister, Claire Coutinho said:- "Having children can be really tough as well as bringing so much joy. All families, from time to time, will need a helping hand. Family hubs bring services together helping parents, carers, children and young people to access the support they need more easily. Parenting advice ranges from support with breast feeding and mental health to guidance on how to give children a head start on their learning."

Separately, Government is also confirming the final 5 areas to receive investment from the Family Hubs Transformation Fund, which will transition services which used to operate under the Sure Start banner over to the Family Hub model. This will enable a further 12 local authorities across England to open family hubs by March 2024.

This funding will provide thousands of families with access to support when they need it, including:- helping to give babies the best start in life, as set out in:- 'Best Start for Life - a vision for the critical 1,001 days' led by Dame Andrea Leadsom, which sets out 6 action areas to improve support for families between pregnancy and age 2.  And, as part of her success as the Government's Early Years Healthy Development Adviser, Dame Leadsom's role will be extended until the end of Parliament.

Dame Andrea Leadsom said:- "Support for the earliest years is being transformed our:- 'Start for Life' offer will point families-to-be in the direction of their Family Hub, and the help they can get there will include:- a warm welcome, parenting advice, antenatal help, health visiting, mental health and infant feeding support and even advice on relationship building or how to get into work. There will be a strong focus on dads and co-parents who have for far too long been left out. We all agree that universal education and universal healthcare are the right of every citizen. Surely, however, the best start for life is the most fundamental right of all. It is in the period from conception to the age of 2 that the building blocks for good lifelong physical and emotional health are laid down. There is quite literally no better place to invest, either for human happiness or value for taxpayers' money!"

A progress report has been published outlines the progress the Government has made against these commitments to date. It also sets out the Government's priorities for further work.  

Parents will also be able to access a range of support through the hubs from midwifery to mental health support, health visiting to infant feeding advice. Hubs will also provide early language and communication development for young children to set the foundations for lifelong learning and prepare them for School at age five. 

Minister Neil O'Brien said:- "Every child should have the support to be able to reach their full potential. There is robust evidence that the 1,001 critical days from pregnancy to the age of 2 are vital for development and impact a child's physical and emotional health for the rest of their life. Better access to family hubs and additional funding for critical Start for Life services will provide more families with the right support for their baby to get the best start in life – including support for mental health, building strong and healthy relationships and infant feeding."

Peter Fonagy, Chief Executive of the Anna Freud Centre, said:- "Family Hubs make a positive difference to parents, carers and children by providing a single access point to services that can help them during challenging periods. We know how important early intervention is in improving physical, mental and emotional health outcomes for young people, and in helping to build a strong foundation for them to prosper in later life. We are proud to lead the National Centre for Family Hubs, which provides a national platform for the implementation of family hubs in local areas, and to be able to extend support to more areas across the country. Our work champions, develops and disseminates evidence and best practice across communities to help local authorities to build family hubs that are accessible and inclusive to all, particularly those families who are living in poverty, experiencing discrimination and exclusion, and those who have children with special educational needs or disabilities."

FSB calls for plan to power growth as new research shows collapse in North West small business confidence

THE Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has unveiled a plan for growth following the latest North West Small Business Index (NWSBI), which shows confidence collapsed further in the final quarter of 2002. It currently stands at -48, down from -37 in the previous quarter, on par with the national average of -46. While overall confidence is lower in other areas, including in the South West (-34%), North West small businesses are struggling with the continued impact of widespread economic uncertainties and inflationary pressures, and the resulting impact on consumer demand.

►   Revenue and profit... In Q4, 47% of North West small businesses reported a decrease in revenue. The outlook for future revenue remains concerning, with North West figures more negative than the net national average (-14%). A net balance of -25% expect growth in profits for the coming quarter. This shows a worsening outlook from Q3, when the net balance stood at -12%. However, some resilience was shown by North West businesses. 34% reported revenue increases during the period. The net balance figure of -13% for Q4 is a marginal improvement from the net balance recorded in Q3 of -23%, but it represents a continued decline in revenue. In addition, other Regions have experienced significantly worse net revenue performance during Q4; for example the East Midlands (-26%) and the South West (-30%).

►   Employment and wages... North West small businesses continued to scale back headcount, with 20% decreasing staff numbers and just 8% taking on more employees. In the next quarter, more businesses intend to decrease headcount (16%) than increase it (13%). More North West firms have increased the wages they pay over the past year (73%), compared to the national average (66%). The net change in salary in Q4 (69%), is significantly larger than that seen during Q3 (56%). 83% expect to increase salaries over the next 12 months and this predicted wage growth is considerably higher than that recorded in the previous quarter, where 65% anticipated wage increases.

►   Growth and Investment aspirations... 49% said that their growth aspirations in the next 12 months were to grow either rapidly (increase turnover/sales by over 20%) or moderately (up to 20%) a slight increase on 45% in the previous quarter. Investment intentions of North West small businesses improved considerably on the previous quarter, now standing at net 12% from net -4% recorded in Q3. The Region outperformed the nationwide average in Q4 (net 9%). 32% expect to increase investment levels in the coming quarter, compared to 28% nationwide and performing well compared to other Regions; particularly those anticipating stagnant investment or falling investment. Year on year, investment intentions have fallen. In Q4 2021, investment intentions in the Region stood at net 17%. General economic conditions (59%), appropriately skilled staff (44%), and consumer demand (41%) are the greatest perceived barriers to growth over the next 12 months for North West businesses. Both have grown significantly as concerns:- In Q3, a quarter (25%) highlighted appropriately skilled staff, and a similar proportion (23%) highlighted consumer demand as their major issues.

Paul Wareham, FSB North West England Policy Representative, said:- "The latest FSB North West Small Business Index is very concerning, showing clearly that the downturn in North West confidence continued to worsen in the last quarter of 2022, falling to its 3rd lowest level since we started tracking it nearly a decade ago. Almost half reported falling revenue and future prospects are just as grim, with the outlook for profit growth in negative territory, declining and lagging behind the national average. However, business owners are resilient and where there is a will, we will find a way through. A third actually saw revenues increase, other Regions have reported even lower levels of confidence and investment intentions have improved considerably on Q3– tracking above the national figure. Small businesses are always the engine room of any economic recovery. They are a fantastic national resource of innovation and creativity; particularly if given the right conditions to flourish. The more rapidly small firms pull through, the more rapidly we can all recover. Clearly, falling consumer spending, inflation, and high energy bills are all taking a toll, and poor results after the golden quarter are particularly disappointing, but this should also be a time to grasp the nettle and be decisive in finding more ways for the economy to grow, which is why we have drawn up a plan of action for the Government to implement. Helping more people into work, tackling late payment, driving energy efficiency, powering R&D and getting more people to start up on their own are all initiatives that will make a real difference to the economy; just as small business owners individually will continue to demonstrate the ingenuity they showed during the pandemic to find new markets and new ways of working. We are working closely with partners in Cheshire and Warrington and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to ensure all small business are able to access first-class support to help them survive and grow. As well as developing new services, we need our political leaders to understand the economic reality that businesses of all sizes and ambitions, not just high growth firms, need to be better assisted to find the support they need."

FSB's plan to help small businesses:-

►   Tackle late payment once and for all, by making the audit committees of large corporates responsible and accountable for supply chain payment practices, with a legal requirement that payment times and conditions be published in annual reports.

►   Address recruitment troubles by taking action to help people access affordable childcare, creating a:- 'Kickstart'-style scheme to help more people kept out of work through health problems to access work, and bringing in skills bootcamps for the over 50's.

►   Introduce a Help to Green voucher with a suggested value of £5,000, to be used by small firms to invest in green improvements to their premises, such as a heat pump, better insulation, or solar panels. This will stimulate the economy, cut emissions, and reduce small firms' energy bills at the same time.

►   Promote small businesses' investment in R&D by reversing the cut to R&D tax credits brought in at the Autumn Statement, and reduce the complexity within the application process so small firms can navigate it without the need to hand over a large cut of any relief they gain to intermediaries.

►   Reform the way taxes are levied to help boost small firms; increasing Small Business Rate Relief to:- £25,000 in England, and raising the VAT threshold from:- £85,000 to £100,000, to help the self employed work more hours.