A report out this morning is warning that over one third of low-income families are struggling to access vital child development and parenting support in children’s centres and family hubs across England.
Action for Children research has found inequalities in access to parenting support services between regions, and between demographic groups, across England after they surveyed 2,000 parents of 0-5s across England to ask about their experiences of accessing baby and toddler groups, and parenting courses and programmes.
Two thirds of parents wished there was more high-quality support available to help with their parenting while Lower-income parents, Black, Asian and minority ethnic parents, younger parents, and fathers, were more likely to have faced difficulty accessing services. There was also significant regional variation in access.
A third of 3 parents who accessed parenting support went on to access further support as a result of this. Parenting support they say, should be seen as an important form of early intervention.
Currently, family hub plans apply to just over half of local authorities. The government, they say, must clarify how it plans to improve access to parenting support in areas that are not eligible. No area, or family, should be left behind.
The most common barrier to accessing parenting support in our survey was that services were not available. Little progress can be made on parenting support without further and sustained investment. We’d welcome a long-term plan for investment into early years services.
Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said:
“Effective, high quality early years provision makes a significant difference to young children, helping to break the cycle of disadvantage and improving social mobility while also enabling parents to work.
“While it was good the Government announced funding through the best start and family hubs programme, we are concerned only half of councils will be able to access support through the programme’s funding over the next three years. This means many children and their families may be missing out on crucial support in their early years at a time when greater investment is needed given the challenges experienced during the pandemic.
“It is vital the Government fully funds the early years entitlements, ensuring providers get the support they need while enabling all children to have access to places.”
