Families across Stoke-on-Trent will be offered help and support with issues such as infant feeding, mental health and relationship building thanks to Family Hubs being rolled out in the city.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has today (9 February) been named as one of 75 areas which will benefit from £300 million investment up to 2025, with new hubs offering support from conception through to age 19, or up to 25 for children with special education needs and disabilities. The council has been awarded over £3.5 million to deliver this project locally.
Council leader Abi Brown said: “We are delighted that the government have today announced that Stoke-on-Trent is one of the 75 areas to get Family Hub and Start for Life funding. This builds on the bid the city put forward in 2021 signed by partners, and a lobbying letter sent to parliament. We really made sure the government understands that here in Stoke-on-Trent children are our number one priority and highlighted to ministers whenever we got the chance, it is clear they listened.”
With this funding the council will be investing in families and making sure they get the support they need from birth through to adulthood. The support will help with children’s educational attainment, wellbeing and life chances, while also improving wider outcomes such as poor mental health and unemployment. Previously these services could be disjointed and hard to navigate but Family Hubs will act as a ‘one-stop shop’ to offer guidance and advice on a range of circumstances including, infant feeding, mental health support, health visits and parenting classes.
They will also bring together wider wraparound services that can make a huge difference to people who need extra support – such as advice on getting into work, relationship building and stop smoking services.
Councillor Dave Evans, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “Family Hubs in Stoke-on-Trent will make a massive difference to children and families and create a network of provision across the city. Support will be available in their local communities and we will be making sure that we are utilising community assets that are already there to build on that resilience and see our communities thrive in the way we would all want.
“The effort to get this funding has been one of partnership and we will deliver it in partnership, making a real difference for children and families. Plans are already underway and more news on the locations of Family Hubs which will be spread across the north, centre and south of the city will be shared shortly, with the first hub to open in the Spring.”
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