Northumberland: Publishing the Start for Life Offer as a one-stop shop for parents, carers and families

The rationale

We know that all too often families are left to work out for themselves not only what help they need, but also where to find it. Northumberland’s review discovered that there was no centralised source of information available to parents or carers about their child’s development during pregnancy and until the age of two. Upon joining the Family Hub and Start for Life programme, Northumberland set about creating a one-stop shop so that every parent and carer can access the support they need when they need it.

The intervention

Northumberland now has a comprehensive, well-researched and co-produced Start for Life Offer which can be accessed through a dedicated Family Hubs website. Examples of the topics covered by the website include:

  • Pregnancy, including staying healthy during pregnancy, preparing for labour and birth, wider lifestyle advice on smoking and alcohol, benefits and financial support and guidance on the Badger app (for maternity care records).
  • The baby’s first years, including baby health, infant feeding support, developmental milestones, safe sleeping, childcare and information about returning to work after maternity leave.

Several valuable tools have been developed to promote Northumberland’s Start for Life Offer:

  • Keyrings for staff, partners and community engagement workers with a QR code linking directly to the website. These are used during engagement with parents, carers and families to signpost the website easily through their phones.
  • Promotional cards with QR code linking to Northumberland’s Family Hubs website. The cards also include information on Northumberland’s social media accounts to encourage parents/carers to explore information shared on their platforms.

Northumberland concentrated on QR codes as they are an effective way to guide families to the latest information, in comparison to printed outputs which can become outdated and costly to update. The use of QR codes also serves as an opportunity to track reach and understand the effectiveness of the engagement. Examples of the keyring and promotional cards are shown below.

Implementation Steps

  • 1. Assess what information is currently available to parents and families

    The initial focus was exploring what information was digitally available on local offers including Northumberland County Council Webpages, the SEND Local Offer and the Family Information Service. The gap analysis showed that the Families Information Service needed to be updated and did not provide a comprehensive insight into what support was available. The Council website had significant limitations in terms of creative content and flexibility. The team agreed that a central place was needed where expecting and new parents could access the latest evidence-based advice and guidance. The streamlined digital content had the potential to improve information signposting and bring new knowledge to parents and families.

  • 2. Refer to Family Hub and Start for Life Guidance

    The team referred back to guidance provided by the government on key principles to consider when publishing Start for Life Offers. A fundamental principle is

    that the information is as accessible as possible, with information on all Start for Life services and support in a single online space which is easy to use and easily accessible from a local authority’s website and family information service. One way to help achieve this is to ensure the Start for Life Offer is only one click away from the main website. This was adopted as the ambition for Northumberland.

  • 3. Consult with internal partners for buy-in

    Once the rationale had been agreed, a consultation exercise was undertaken to achieve buy-in from different partners, including frontline practitioners, parents and carers, the Council’s IT Service and the providers of the Families Information Service. There was agreement from IT and internal partners managing the Families Information Service that a standalone website containing the Start for Life Offer would be designed. Buy-in was essential to ensure that everybody understood the decisions that were taken and were in support.

  • 4. Procure services from a web developer

    The team commissioned an external web developer to build the standalone website. They built on an existing relationship with a web developer who knew about local services from working on the SEND Local Offer.

  • 5. Select content for the website

    The team focused on what essential information should be shared with parents and families. They considered the website’s sustainability and limited content that might quickly go out of date. The team also included links to local and national web pages containing the latest guidance and support to ensure that it was integrated.

  • 6. Engage with local partners through implementation

    A workshop focused on website design was held, bringing together different partners to hear their views and inform them about the website design and implementation. This included hearing from parents and carers about the information that they would find helpful.

  • 7. Test the digital offer

    Once the website had been drafted, a testing phase was undertaken to ensure that it met the needs of different groups. This included testing sessions with professionals such as Family Hubs practitioners, parent carer panels and families attending groups in Family Hubs. The feedback from these sessions informed the final product.

  • 8. Ensure accessibility

    The team invested in ReciteMe software to ensure users with different accessibility needs could easily access content.

  • 9. Launch website

    The website was launched on Friday, 31 March 2022 and was promoted through a social media campaign through April and May 2022.

The team reflected that they needed to use several resources to achieve this, including:

  • Funding from the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme to commission the external web developer. This helped to ensure that the website was developed to the highest standards and Northumberland leant on the specialist knowledge and skills to enable the published offer to come to fruition.
  • Specialist skills and capacity from key staff members including the communications lead for coordinating content and website development. A community development worker consulted with parent carer panels on how best to share the offer with the community and continuously improve it. Additionally, a Family Hub practitioner developed user-profiles to better understand the needs of different users and how the webpage can best support different needs.
  • Knowledge from partners via a workshop and ongoing input before, during and after the page was published to continuously improve it. Additional knowledge was gleaned from external content, such as best practice advice and guidance from NHS sites.

The impact of the intervention

As a result of the published offer, Northumberland was able to provide a one-stop shop with the latest information, advice and guidance for expecting and new parents and carers. Whilst there has not been a formal evaluation to date, the webpage has had 4448 unique hits since launching. Northumberland’s efforts mean parents and carers are now able to access the support they need when they need it through their one-stop shop.

Top tips for implementation

  1. Have an informed plan to support the delivery of activities. This can help to ensure the timely delivery of the initiative and that time is protected to utilise feedback to iterate and improve content.
  2. Take a holistic approach and lean on the knowledge of others in the development stage. This can ensure that all parts of the offer are considered and these insights are used to shape the design. This includes seeking support from specialist services such as a web developer, to ensure that a quality output is delivered.
  3. Co-produce and consult with families to ensure that the offer meets the needs of local families. Leverage the insights from parent carer panels to better understand what information parents and carers need, learn how to best share the offer and continuously improve it through feedback. Tap into the existing links to parents through Family Hubs practitioners and community development workers to link to individual families more widely.

This case study has been produced by the Start for Life Unit within the Department of Health and Social Care, in partnership with RSM and Northumberland County Council. By sharing promising examples of delivery, we hope to facilitate connections between LAs across the country and support local delivery of Start for Life services. For further information please contact familyhubs.startforlife@dhsc.gov.uk

The data included in these case studies is self-reported by Local Authorities and has not been quality assured by the Department of Health and Social Care. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department.

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