Croydon is set to significantly expand its support for families with the transition to a 0-19 (up to 25 with SEND) Family Hubs model. This significant shift, noted by the Health and Wellbeing Board on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, aims to provide a more comprehensive and integrated service for children and young people across the borough.
The expansion, supported by £6.2 million in grant funding from the Department for Education and the Department for Health and Social Care until March 2029, will see existing Children's Centres transformed into Family Hubs. These hubs will operate on a hub-and-spoke model, with three main Family Hubs complemented by outreach hubs and 'information hubs' located in community venues such as libraries and health centres. The main Family Hubs will be open full-time, five days a week, with potential for weekend and evening hours, while outreach hubs will operate fewer days. Information hubs will offer access to support and information about Family Hubs, including signposting and QR codes, and families can connect with a Family Hub navigator through these locations.
The Family Hubs model will offer a total of 24 services, delivered directly or through signposting. These include activities for children aged 0-5, health visiting, midwifery/maternity services, SEND support, birth registration, housing advice, nutrition and weight management, stop smoking support, debt and welfare advice, infant feeding support, oral health improvement, substance misuse support, domestic abuse support, intensive targeted family support, parent-infant relationships and perinatal mental health support, early language and home learning environment support, local authority 0-19 public health services, parenting support, youth justice services, early childhood education and care, mental health services, reducing parental conflict, and youth services (universal and targeted).
This initiative is part of a broader strategy to improve child development outcomes, with Croydon setting an ambitious target of 78.3% of children achieving a 'Good Level of Development' (GLD) by the end of their reception year by 2028. This target represents an increase from the current 70.4% and acknowledges Croydon's performance exceeding statistical neighbours. The strategy will focus on local needs, particularly in wards with lower GLD outcomes, and will be measured by the percentage of children achieving GLD. This is detailed further in the HWBB March 2026 GLD cover paper.
Key areas of focus for improving development include addressing speech and language delays, supporting personal independence skills, enhancing social-emotional development, and providing targeted support for children with English as an additional language. The strategy emphasizes a whole-system approach, involving partnerships across health, public health, and children's services. To ensure staff are equipped to address these areas, training programmes have been commissioned from For Baby's Sake, Peeple, and the National Children's Bureau. Staff and volunteers will also receive mandatory basic training in parental mental health and parent-infant relationships as part of their induction and ongoing development, as outlined in the Croydon Infant Feeding Strategy and the Croydon PMH Strategy.
Family Hubs will support families with children aged 0-19, extending to 25 for those with SEND. The meeting information does not specify further eligibility criteria for accessing enhanced support beyond this age range.
