Hackney Council has implemented a significant overhaul of its children's social care services, aiming to prioritise early intervention and improve support for families. The Families First Partnership
programme, which represents the most substantial changes to children's social care since the Children Act 1989, was discussed at a recent Children and Young People Scrutiny Commission meeting.
The reforms seek to prevent family crises by empowering family networks and fostering multi-agency collaboration. Key changes include the establishment of a single, neighbourhood-based Family Help
service, merging targeted early help and Child in Need services. This new service, launched on 5th May 2026, reorganises staff into teams based in four Children and Family Hubs across the borough.
A specialist Safer Paths - Preventing Harm Outside the Home Team
is also being established to support adolescents most vulnerable to extra-familial harm. This multidisciplinary team will comprise social workers, youth workers, and family help practitioners, and will be located alongside the Youth Justice Service to acknowledge the intersection between exploitation and crime. The team will have lower caseloads, allowing for more intensive visits and will collaborate with partners such as the police to disrupt adult perpetrators of harm and intervene where peer abuse occurs.
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) has been renamed the Multi-Agency Support Hub (MASH) to be less intimidating. The reforms are being implemented in line with Hackney's systemic, trauma-informed, and anti-racist (STAR) practice model. Frontline staff are undergoing a comprehensive, four-day in-person training programme, spread over four weeks, followed by three shorter follow-up sessions, to implement the STAR practice model. This training is designed to be experiential, teaching staff to reflect on their own positionality, challenge assumptions, and build confidence in applying new tools and frameworks.
The council is working with families and voluntary sector organisations to co-design services, aiming to build trust and ensure the voices of all communities are heard. Ongoing feedback and co-design are central to the programme, with established Parental Advisory Groups, including representation from diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, and communities. These groups serve as a 'sounding board' and provide a feedback loop to ensure ongoing service development meets families' needs. Senior leaders within Children and Families Service will attend sessions to hear directly from parents. A men's Parental Advisory Group is being established, and efforts are being made to represent as many communities as possible through close collaboration with voluntary partners.
Officers estimate that the full impact of these reforms will become evident over the next 12 to 18 months. The success of the 'Families First Partnership' programme will be measured using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, including existing statutory key performance indicators (KPIs) and additional indicators identified by the DfE. Hackney has also developed its own indicators, in collaboration with partner agencies, particularly around extra-familial harm. Qualitative data will be gathered through an internal and multi-agency audit program, overseen by the City and Hackney Safeguarding Partnership. A key focus will be on collecting impact data through co-design with children and families, including ongoing feedback from parental advisory groups and children's groups. The aim is to see a trajectory of improvement over the next five years, with families reporting better experiences of services and children being safe, well-cared for, and achieving in all domains of their lives. A comprehensive evaluation framework and data dashboards are being developed to monitor this.
Key challenges and risks identified include workforce recruitment and retention, sustainable long-term funding, partner organisation cooperation, and the significant re-organisation and staff role changes. Hackney is addressing workforce issues through an agency-to-perm recruitment scheme, a retention bonus, and a focus on supervision and well-being. The council is being careful to increase staffing sustainably, anticipating a need to return to a cost-neutral position by March 2028, when the Families First Partnership Programme grant is available until. They have raised the need for clarity on long-term funding arrangements with the DfE. For partner organisation cooperation, while buy-in is strong, direct funding for roles like the Health Lead in the Child Safeguarding Team is currently limited to 18 months. To mitigate risks associated with re-organisation, an increased level of practice support, monitoring, and auditing has been introduced, along with new Child Protection Leads. As the reforms are nationally led with limited pathfinder testing, Hackney is relying on their theory of change and evaluation program to inform longer-term financial modeling.
More information can be found in the Agenda frontsheet and the Public reports pack for the Children and Young People Scrutiny Commission meeting. The Minutes from a previous meeting are also available.
