Issue details

Proposed decision – To approve the implementation of the Families First Partnership Programme, in line with the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 and The Families First Partnership (FFP) Programme Guide.

Following the Key Decision 25/00047 in August 2025 to approve the acceptance of grant funding for the Families First Programme for the period 2026/27, 2027/2028 and 2028/29, and to permit preparatory, mobilisation and design activity for the development of the Families First model, under delegated authority, the Interim Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education formally accepted the Children, Families and Youth Grant through Officer Decision OD/26/00006, which enabled the continued use of grant funding for preparatory and design activity and the funding of existing services, but did not authorise implementation of the new model.

This proposed decision is intended to approve and subsequently implement the new Families First Partnership Programme model in children’s services, moving from design into full delivery in line with statutory requirements.

Central government is investing over £800m between 2025 and 2029 into the  Families First Partnership (FFP) programme to support local authorities and their partners to deliver system wide reform of children’s services focused on the implementation of Family Help, Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams and Family Group Decision Making, in response to recommendations from: The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, and The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s report on Child Protection in England. These reforms bring a significant shift and refocus how we help, protect and support children and families.

The aim of the Families First Programme is to deliver a fully integrated, family-centred system of support underpinned by strong multi-agency collaboration and shared accountability. The aim is for families to access and receive the right help at the right time from trusted practitioners who understand their story, coordinating support and providing consistent presence throughout their journey. The programme also seeks to deliver financial sustainability, ensuring that resources are used efficiently to deliver long-term value and improved outcomes.

The Families First Partnership programme aligns with the government’s vision for transformation across children’s social care (CSC) and is expected to realise the four outcomes of the Children’s Social Care National Framework:

Outcome 1: children, young people and families stay together and get the help they need

Outcome 2: children and young people are supported by their family network

Outcome 3: children and young people are safe in and outside of their homes

Outcome 4: children in care and care leavers have stable, loving homes

Background

The Council has progressed the transformation journey through initiation and co-design and a Target Operating Model for Families First for Children has been developed. The model was designed in collaboration with statutory partners and colleagues from voluntary services, frontline practitioners, children, young people and families, in line with the current timeline.

The reforms set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, combined with the Families First Partnership Programme Guide underpin the key reforms of Early Help, Child in Need, and Child Protection service delivery:

·   Family Help (Integrated Early Help and Child in Need): A single, integrated Family Help system replaces separate Targeted Early Help and Section 17 pathways, providing earlier, coordinated, relationship?based support through multi?disciplinary teams. In Kent, Family Help Teams will bring together Early Help, Children’s Social Care and Adolescent Services, led by social work managers, with specialist adolescent safeguarding roles for extra?familial risks.

·   Family Help Lead Practitioner (FHLP): A designated practitioner (social worker or alternatively qualified professional) responsible for assessing needs, coordinating the family plan and ensuring the right support is in place at the right time.

·   Single Family Help Assessment: One assessment framework within Liquid Logic (Liberi) enabling consistent recording and decision?making across Early Help, Child in Need and Child Protection, reducing duplication.

·   Multi?Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs): Virtual multi?agency teams holding strategy meetings and child protection decision?making, improving timeliness, information?sharing and consistency.

·   Lead Child Protection Practitioner (LCPP): A specialist Qualified Social Work leadership role providing oversight of risk assessment and decision?making across Section 47 activity, without holding cases.

·   Family Group Decision?Making (FGDM): Strengthened expectations that families are actively involved in decision?making and planning from the earliest point, building on family networks and resources.

These reforms aim to provide earlier, more coordinated intervention; strengthen professional decision?making through supervision and multi?agency challenge; ensure specialist oversight in all child protection work; and embed a more relational, family?centred approach across all levels of need, so that families are supported early and consistently.

Given the statutory nature of the reforms which are underpinned by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, and the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, a full public consultation is not required. The Act and the statutory guidance direct Kent County Council and all the other Local Authorities to implement these reforms in Children Services.

A further Key Decision will be required to formalise the deployment of the funding for the implementation of the Target Operating Model for Families First for Children, in accordance with the associated grant conditions:

·   Strengthen the Family Help offer in collaboration with safeguarding partners, by bringing together local services under a combined, multi-disciplinary practice team and seamless offer. This means ensuring join up between the non-statutory (targeted early help) and statutory components of Family Help (Section 17 of Children Act 1989) to wrap support around the family at the earliest opportunity, streamline re-assessment points and ensure consistency of relationships by establishing the role of the Family Help Lead Practitioner.

·   Work with safeguarding partners to deliver multi-agency child protection reform, including through establishing multi-agency child protection teams, with embedded social worker Lead Child Protection Practitioners, health, police and education practitioners and other agencies according to local needs.

·   Incorporate systemic use of family group decision-making and family network support packages to make greater use of family networks. Where it is in the best interests of the child, local partnerships should ensure that the offer of family group decision-making is made as early as possible and repeat the offer as a child’s needs and the support they receive changes.

The Children’s Wellbeing and School’s Act alongside the statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, mandate these reforms.

Formal approval of the implementation of the Families First for Children Target Operating Model design enables the Council to achieve its statutory obligations, meet the Central Government imposed implementation deadline of April 2027 and provide the right support and intervention for families at the right time.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

The alternative option is to refuse the implementation of the new Families First Model. Since the Children Wellbeing and Schools Act achieved Royal Assent in April 2026 and with the publication of the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 these reforms are a legal requirement that must be implemented by all Local Authorities. Failure to implement the reforms would leave the Council non?compliant with legislative requirements, withdrawal of funding creating pressure on Kent County Council’s base budget for Children Services. Failure to implement Families First for Children will lead to increased scrutiny from Central Government and potential formal improvement intervention.

How the proposed decision supports the Council’s Strategic Statement

Formally approving the implementation of the Families First for Children Target Operating Model design, aligns directly with Aim 3: Supporting Residents That Need Help in the Reforming Kent 2025–2028 Strategy, as it strengthens Kent’s ability to embed a greater focus on prevention and early intervention and empower residents to take responsibility for improving their own outcomes. The grant directly supports our priorities to give families timely access to the right support so they can stay together wherever possible, to invest in prevention where financially viable and to put in place practical measures that empower families to make sensible life choices.

Financial Implications

The Families First model directly impacts the Children’s Social Care and Early Help services of the Council with a total net revenue budget of £297 million in 2026-27 of which £193m relates to children’s placements/support, and £104m to staffing. This budget is funded from the Council’s General Fund.

Kent County Council has received funding towards implementing the Families First Partnership Programme, known as the Children’s, Families and Youth Grant, totalling £21.7 million for 2026/2027, £21.7 million for 2027/2028 and £18.5 million for 2028/2029. This ring-fenced grant replaces funding previously received separately in 2025-26, through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant (£6.7m) and Children’s and Families Grant (Supporting Families, £6m), along with additional new investment of £8.9m. It is expected the new model will be delivered with grant funding available. Failure to implement the Families First model in line with Government expectations may result in the potential loss of government funding.

Legal Implications  

The Corporate Director of Children's Services (DCS) at Kent County Council has statutory duties outlined in Section 18 of the Children Act 2004. These duties involve ensuring the delivery of Local Authority Social Care functions for children and young people. This includes, but is not limited to, providing services that meet the needs of all children, youth, including the most vulnerable, and their families.  The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 and the statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 ‘ legally obliges Kent County Council to comply with the delivery requirements.

As the funding agreement extends beyond the anticipated go?live date for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in 2028, legal consideration has been given to the continuity of statutory duties and the future governance arrangements required to maintain compliance. The obligations attached to the grant will continue to apply regardless of structural changes arising from LGR, as the statutory requirements underpinning the reforms rest with the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education.

Once the preferred LGR model is confirmed in July 2026, the programme will be aligned with the agreed transition arrangements to ensure that grant conditions, accountability for spend, and decision?making responsibilities can transfer lawfully to any successor body or bodies. This will include mapping statutory functions, reviewing governance frameworks, and establishing clear mechanisms for continuity of service delivery during and after the transition. The Executive Decision therefore establishes a legally secure basis for implementation now, while noting that formal variation or transfer arrangements may be required once LGR outcomes are confirmed.

Equalities implications

Future operations and activity will be designed to complement, develop and build on established family support services, including supporting diverse families that are seldom heard, which aligns Aim 3 of our Reforming Kent Strategy, ‘Supporting residents That Need Help'. An Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) has been completed for the Families First Partnership Programme, considering potential impacts on individuals and families with protected characteristics. While the reforms introduced through Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 may increase early identification, information?sharing and multi?agency involvement for some groups, no disproportionate negative impacts have been identified that cannot be mitigated.

Mitigating actions are embedded within the programme design, including the consistent application of relational, trauma?informed practice; proportionate use of Family Help plans to support rather than penalise families; transparent and lawful information?sharing practices; and strengthened expectations around anti?discriminatory and anti?racist practice across agencies. The reforms also enhance family and community involvement, particularly through Family Group Decision?Making, to ensure plans are co?produced and culturally responsive, and that caring responsibilities are shared appropriately.

Specialist roles and multi?agency structures are designed to improve professional oversight, reduce bias, and support consistent, timely decision?making, while system design and practice guidance emphasise privacy, dignity and inclusion for all families. Equality impacts will continue to be monitored through implementation, supervision, data analysis and ongoing programme governance, and mitigations will be strengthened where required.

Data Protection implications

A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) has been completed and the following risks and mitigations have been identified.

• There is a risk that information may be shared or accessed by parties who do not need to access

Mitigation - Access to systems will be based on level of need and individuals will only have access to information relevant to their role. Where partners have access to The Liberi/ Liquid Logic Case Management System (to be determined) they will be signed up to the appropriate access policy and will have specific user profiles which will limit their access and requires extra justification around accessing KCC information.

• There is a risk that information relating to the wrong child is accidentally shared.

Mitigation – The implementation of a unique, universal identifier across all organisations to ensure each organisation is referring to the same child is to be rolled out nationally.