£2m to help Rotherham families and strengthen child protection before crisis hits

The money comes from the Department for Education’s Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant, announced earlier this year. The funding is ringfenced for early intervention and prevention work, aiming to help families before problems reach crisis point.

At its next meeting on June 9, the council’s cabinet will consider a report outlining how the grant will support the next phase of the borough’s family help strategy.

The cash will fund new family support roles, improve safeguarding teams, and crovide better access to early help services, as part of a wider national shift to make services more family-focused.

Around £1 million will go toward direct support for families. This includes expanding early help teams by creating new roles and ensuring that professionals from education, health, social care and other services can work together more effectively. The aim is to offer support earlier, helping families tackle problems before they become more serious.

The funding will also be used to increase access to family group decision making, a process that brings wider family members together to help make decisions about a child’s care and support. It’s a key part of the government’s push for more family-led, collaborative approaches to safeguarding.

An additional £600,000 will be spent on making sure services are designed and run in a way that better meets families’ needs. This includes creating a dedicated team to lead the changes, looking at how services are organised, improving how families access help online, and making sure support is easier to navigate.

Around £300,000 is set aside to train staff and improve day-to-day working practices, including IT system upgrades.

A further £100,000 will be used to make sure children, young people and families are properly listened to. This will include engagement sessions, gathering feedback on services, and involving families directly in shaping how support is delivered in future.

The changes are part of the government’s new Families First Partnership Programme, which calls on councils and safeguarding partners to shift focus from crisis response to earlier help. Rotherham’s plans include setting up multi-agency teams, updating referral processes, and introducing a new family help model that brings together education, health, and social care support.

Cabinet will also be asked to approve new governance arrangements to oversee the transformation and ensure the council meets national expectations. An update on progress and spending is due later this year.