Early intervention helping struggling Sheffield families as deprivation levels rise

The city has a population of 556,000 and 19.1% of children are living in absolute low-income families. A report to Sheffield City Council says: “The high levels of deprivation have been exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis, evidenced in the free school meals rate (31.1%).

“This is nearly 9 percentage points higher than the national rate, and 12 percentage points higher than it was in 2015/16.”

A meeting of the council’s education, children and families policy committee next Wednesday (January 15) will discuss a self-evaluation document on children and families services. This looks at what help and support is available and how effective it is.

The document says: “Children and families across Sheffield benefit from a local authority that has a proud history of investing in early help, with long-established, multi-agency joint working arrangements to offer help and support to families at all levels of the threshold of need.”

Impacts

Frontline workers are supported by a wide range of specialists in the council, NHS services, education services and the voluntary and charitable sector. The Sheffield Early Help system aims to intervene at the earliest opportunity and the Family Intervention Service provides targeted support to families.

The report says: “Our audits and customer satisfaction surveys tell us that the support provided is good and makes significant positive impacts on the lives of children and families. In the last 12 months most audits related to the Family Intervention Service were graded either good or outstanding.

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It quotes feedback from parents including these comments:

“I’m extremely grateful for advice given and support shown not only for my children but also my wellbeing.” “We really appreciate all of the help and support – it’s invaluable. D (named worker) is fantastic and her communication was spot on.”

Parents also reported that they felt fully involved with the plan and their family life had improved because of the intervention.

The report also says that the council is a trailblazer with its seven government-funded Family Hubs, spread across the city. The hubs begin their support and activities for expectant parents, moving into early years, but offer support services for children and young people aged up to 19, or 25 with special needs.

The report says that there has been a 50% increase in access to parenting programmes for children aged up to two years “and initial indications are this will continue to grow”.