Top Ten Tips for Directors of Children’s Services

Delivering high quality, accessible early help for children and families is central to improving outcomes and reducing inequalities. Family Hubs provide a vital opportunity for Directors of Children’s Services to bring together partners, streamline services, and ensure families can easily access the support they need from conception through early childhood. There is also a need to join up Families First, SEND Reforms and Best Start to ensure continuity for families and across the age ranges. This document sets out ten practical tips to support strategic leadership, effective system design, and strong local partnerships, helping areas to maximise the impact of their Best Start Family Hubs and achieve meaningful, long term benefits for children and their communities.

1. Anchor Family Hubs in a clear, shared vision Set out a compelling Best Start narrative that places families at the centre, aligns early help, health and education, and is understood consistently across partners, councillors and frontline staff. The DfE Guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/best-start-family-hubs-and-healthy-babies-guidance-for-local-authorities sets out the Governments vision for transformed family services 
2. Use data to drive locality design Shape Family Hub access, outreach and service offer using population need, deprivation, health and birth data—then regularly review to ensure the model is reducing inequalities, not reinforcing them.
3. Strengthen place‑based leadership Empower locality leaders and hub managers with clear accountability, decision‑making authority and access to data, so Family Hubs respond to community needs rather than operate as centralised services.
4. Integrate health as equal partners Work closely with ICBs, health visitors, schools and early years providers,  midwifery and perinatal mental health services  and the voluntary , comunity and faith sector, to ensure Family Hubs function as genuinely integrated system assets—not council‑only delivery points.
5. Focus on early help, not escalation Use Family Hubs to rebalance the system upstream - supporting families early, reducing crisis demand, and clearly aligning hub activity to wider early help and safeguarding thresholds.
6. Prioritise workforce culture and capability Invest in a confident, relational workforce with shared values, trauma‑informed practice and clear role boundaries—supported by joint training and reflective supervision across agencies.
7. Co‑design with children, parents and communities Involve children, parents, carers and voluntary and community sector partners in shaping both the offer and the environment, ensuring hubs feel welcoming, accessible and culturally relevant.
8. Make digital work for families Complement physical hubs with simple, accessible digital access—clear information, booking, and advice—while ensuring digital exclusion does not become a barrier to support.
9. Embed robust outcomes and learning Move beyond activity measures to track outcomes for children and families, using insight to continuously improve practice and demonstrate the value of Family Hubs to partners and members.
10. Plan for sustainability from the start Align Family Hubs with wider transformation programmes, children’s social care, health strategies and neighbourhood plans—building financial, operational and political sustainability beyond short‑term funding cycles.