Council calls for government help for family hubs

Nearly 30 family hubs have opened across Lancashire since 2023

Lancashire County Council has called on the government to provide financial backing to its family hub network.

Nearly 30 facilities have been funded by the Conservative-run authority since they opened across the county nearly 18 months ago as part of the previous government's nationwide scheme.

At a recent county council meeting, members voted to press the government for "tangible support" and funding for the project, which has at least two hubs in each of Lancashire's dozen districts.

They provide parenting help to vulnerable families from the time of pregnancy to a child's adolescence.

While the funding motion received cross-party support, the debate around it prompted a political fall-out over whether the family hubs were as effective as their Sure Start centre forerunners, which had been facilitated by the last Labour government in the early 2000s.

Those centres closed in large numbers across the country more than a decade later, including in Lancashire, during the Conservative government's austerity measures of the 2010s.

'Pale copy'

Former Labour county council leader Jennifer Mein said the loss of Sure Start had resulted in a generation of children arriving at school who could "barely speak, barely walk, [were] still in nappies and [had] teeth dropping out".

Meanwhile, Labour opposition member Erica Lewis branded the new hubs "a pale copy" of what had gone before them, which she said had "helped break some of the cyclical issues that happen within families".

However, Conservative cabinet member for children and families, Cosima Toweley, said the family hubs were providing "a far better service" than Sure Start, because they were based on a "partnership" between multiple agencies.

"I am immensely proud of the teams in our family hubs. I hear every day how much they appreciate that we invested in them and how much easier [it is]…working in partnerships that work for their place-based need."

She added that the arrangement made "the best use of limited resources", adding the government should "actually help us in this work".