Youth and family hubs

This module is part of the Practice Approach section and should be read in conjunction with the National Centre for Family Hubs’ Summary Guide. You may also want to watch our webinar on Youth and Family Hubs.

This module is aimed at commissioners, directors of children’s services and leaders involved in service design and improvement of family hub models. It is particularly relevant to those involved in the design and commissioning of youth provision in local authorities.

This module was created in collaboration with National Centre for Family Hubs (NCFH) participation advisors Dina Koschorreck and Nasreen Siddique, and the following organisations:

• National Youth Agency  
• Youth Endowment Fund  
• Barnardo’s Essex  
• Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition  
• Young Minds  
• Family Solutions Group  
• AMBIT Team, Anna Freud Centre  

Addressing inequalities

Family hubs operate on principles of access, connection and building relationships. These aim to reduce inequalities and allow children, young people and families to access the right support at the right time.  

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) reported that between 2020 and 2022, the number of children living in relative low-income households increased by 300,000. This brought the total to 4.2 million or 29% of all children and young people. As of 2022, 3.3 million of those live in absolute low-income houses, accounting for 23% of all children. 

In 2019, the Social Mobility Commission found that “Inequality is now entrenched in Britain from birth to work” – that includes the teenage period – and that “being born privileged still means you usually remain privileged.”  

Support to overcome inequality has also been hampered by disparities in provision. In November 2021 the initial summary of findings from the national youth sector census showed that affluent areas had twice as many dedicated buildings for youth services and twice as much provision compared to the lowest income postcodes. 

Furthermore, people from minoritised ethnic groups face additional barriers accessing early intervention support due to racism and racial inequality. Research by Rethink found that in community settings, Black and other ethnically minoritised people were 40% more likely than White people to be turned away when asking for help.  

Family hub development must consider inequalities through an intersectional lens to ensure services meet the needs of all young people in the community. For more information, please read our Access and Inclusion module.

Care experienced children and young people 

Care experienced children and young people are likely to be involved in the wider children’s social care system and may need specific provision for their needs. This could be through direct support or by increasing awareness of local specialist services they could be referred to. National charities like Adoption UK, The Fostering Network and Kinship provide information and resources to support families and increase awareness of care experienced people’s needs across the workforce.  

Care experienced children and young people may have additional needs and it is important for practitioners to work using trauma-informed approaches. Effective signposting and warm handovers can help to show children, young people and their families that they will be fully supported whilst waiting for more specialised services. 

Family hubs may also support young care leavers. This can be a very difficult process and whilst some may have support from family or professionals, others can feel isolated. Coram Voice’s 2023 report on care leaver support highlighted the importance of “working with young people locally to develop solutions that they feel will make the most difference to them.” 

Leaders designing family hub approaches should consider co-designing support for care leavers and ensure the family hub workforce are aware of care leavers’ specific needs. Become offers advice to professionals about young people in care and care leavers’ rights and entitlements.

Improving transitions 

With services supporting an age range spanning up to 25 years of a young person’s life, provision is often divided into age-restricted groupings.  

However, removing these age restrictions can have significant advantages. This allows services to cater to children and young people dependent on their personal situation and their developmental context. It also allows services to adapt to the rapidly changing social and cultural landscape which might cause certain needs to arise in non-traditional age groups. Crucially, it can also help mitigate challenges around transitions – points at which young people are often at their most vulnerable.  

Key transitions in education take place at ages 11, 16 and 18. To smooth these transitions, youth services need the flexibility to move young people to the next level when they are ready. Similarly young people become ready for adult services and support at very different times. Flexibility on age boundaries at the 18- and 25-year points can help to reduce the risk of young people dropping out of the system or losing critical support during these transitions. Local areas should approach these boundaries with an open mind, trial flexible approaches relevant to their context and evaluate impacts.  

It is particularly important to consider the needs of neurodivergent children, those with special educational needs and disabilities, and young people requiring statutory safeguarding and mental health support. Fostering effective relationships and integrating services into family hubs can help manage young people’s transitions into and out of specialist services. For more information, please read our Special educational needs and disabilities module.

Family hub design needs to engage with local children and young people. This improves understanding of: 

• what works well for young people locally 
• what helps them feel most comfortable and confident to access activities, help and support 
• any gaps in provision 
• how to maximise potential for innovative co-design with young people.  

Developing a successful family hub depends on participation and co-production with young people, children and families. Involving local youth workers and learning from the expertise of youth-focused co-production experts such as Peer Power Youth and Common Room will also help ensure youth voice is reflected in hub services. Local organisations using the National Youth Agency Here by Right framework for participation can also provide valuable insights. The NCFH’s Young Persons Participation Advisor has produced a short video about how family hubs can bring services together to support young people. 

We recommend the Lundy model (2007) as a framework for participation. It was developed to help practitioners meaningfully and effectively implement a child’s right to participate as set out by Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Lundy model is used worldwide and has four interconnected elements – Space, Voice, Audience and Influence.

Taking a whole-system approach 

Effective family hub design requires understanding the whole system. Each stage builds on a foundation of listening to children, young people and families’ needs:  embedding participation processes, system-wide data analysis, evidence-based models and a robust approach to implementation and evaluation. You can find out more about how to do this in our Family hub development process module.  

Get out of the hub 

Enabling professionals to work in less formal settings is beneficial for youth provision. This requires training, risk assessment and effective supervision, but can have a huge impact on making services more accessible to young people and families. A good first step is to ask the young person where they would prefer to meet a professional. This can significantly improve engagement and regular interaction with partner agency staff helps to build relationships and deepen integration. 

Shared governance structures 

Ensuring key leaders from the youth sector are involved in family hub governance structures can open up opportunities for integration. This should happen at an individual family hub level by involving local youth providers in hub set-up as well as at local authority level. Key figures from statutory and VCFS youth providers and networks should have ownership and responsibility for ensuring integration across the area. For more information, please read our Governance module.  

Adapt commissioning to enable better access and key worker support 

Commissioning arrangements often require workers to see children, young people and families directly, with fixed appointment schedules and tightly defined processes. However, adapting some of those arrangements can have significant benefits for young people. These adaptions could include allowing for less formal interactions or creating opportunities for professionals to support a young person’s existing key worker to offer additional help. Practical examples include supporting young people back into education or helping them access specialist mental health services. 

Team around the worker

Working with children, young people and families who have experienced trauma and have complex needs can take an emotional toll on workers. Adaptive Mentalization Based Integrative Treatment (AMBIT) is an approach for helping individuals with multiple needs who may struggle to trust helping services. It is a whole-team or whole-system approach. One aspect of the model relevant to family hubs is the “team around the worker” approach. This approach builds support around the worker who has developed a trusting relationship with the family. 

Example: A young person is on a Child in Need plan with several professionals involved (social worker, CAMHS practitioner, education welfare officer, youth worker). The young person has attended a youth group for over a year and has a good relationship with the youth worker. The team around the worker approach would support the youth worker to offer support and advice, with the view to building up the young person’s trust with other services in the future. For more information, please refer to the AMBIT Manual.   

Openness and informed consent in information sharing  

Sharing information can link together services and improve the support children and young people receive. For example, data sharing models such as SystmOne connect GPs and other services. However, if a young person thinks a service might break confidentiality, they might feel reluctant to engage with it. Concerns about data sharing requirements may also be a barrier for involving VCFS partners in family hubs. Transparency, consent and flexibility are key.  

Young people need to understand:  

• the choices available to them  
• what information would be shared and for what purpose  
• their options and the exceptional circumstances when sharing information without consent arise (i.e. immediate risk of harm, urgent medical treatment and criminal offences)  

Give youth providers a range of ways to participate in the family hub system, with differing degrees of integration and data sharing requirements. Building trusting relationships with VCFS partners is the essential ingredient in effective integration. 

Inclusion and accessibility

• Which areas have the highest deprivation, and how can you make services accessible to those areas? Which spaces or digital environments could make youth support more accessible in those areas? 
• How can family hubs help people from minoritised groups, care-experienced young people and those with protected characteristics access early intervention?  
• How well does the youth-focused workforce reflect the diversity of the young people your family hubs serve?  
• How will your family hub model help young people who became disconnected from services during the pandemic reconnect into the youth and family help system?   
• How can family hubs support young people facing a long wait for their CAMHS referral?  
• How can we ensure that young people feel safe accessing support without worrying that everyone in the area will know about their issues?  

Participation and engagement

• Does your participation strategy enable young people to contribute to design and implementation of our family hubs?  
• Are those engaged in co-design and implementation representative of the wider community? (e.g. a range of protected characteristics, levels of need and diversity of experiences with help and support) 
• Where are young people currently choosing to be? Do you have relationships with leaders in those settings and spaces? 

System design and integration

• How can you ensure funding from the Youth Investment Fund is used in synergy with the youth elements of your family hub model? 
• How will you ensure preventative mental health support is integrated across youth support services and family hubs?   
• How might you learn from youth work methods and approaches to design your family hub model?  
• Where should you create separation between youth services and the wider family help system?  
• What are the barriers for VCFS involvement in your family hubs design and implementation process?  
• Do we have a strategy to improve relationships with VCFS providers who have good networks of youth and family relationships, particularly with those who find it hardest to access our services?