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Universal family support

Where is Scotland in 2024?

Throughout Scotland there is evidence of support for children, young people, their families, and those who care for them, through various hosted activities and peer-to-peer support groups, allowing relationships to be nurtured. These are available in a variety of spaces with a focus on safety, wellbeing, healthy bodies and minds, and fun. There are both physical and virtual activities and support groups, which allow people to engage in a way that suits them best.

There are examples of multi-agency work that better aligns support for families through service integration. There is also evidence of partnerships and collaborations across all sectors.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded Scotland of the importance of community support in Scotland, particularly in establishing support networks for families. Work to embed community-based support is underway (for example, supporting maternal mental health and wellbeing) but is not consistently available and accessible.

Continued efforts are needed to strengthen community networks and enhance the use of peer and community support resources across Scotland, ensuring equitable access and effective support for all families in need. The Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is one mechanism providing an opportunity to demonstrate substantial progress by enabling holistic funding to deliver support, combining resources to meet diverse family needs effectively.

Universal family support

Where does Scotland need to be by 2030?

By 2030, the underlying universal support system will support all families and identify those who need support. Universal services will recognise the role they play as adjacent parts of the wider scaffolding of care so they can support and nurture those with care experience.

Scotland will support a broad understanding of the importance of the early years of parenting. Preparation for birth will give parents the opportunity to access universal attachment based parenting education to sit alongside antenatal care.

Scotland will ensure there are places in every community for parents of young children to go for support and advice, to meet other local parents and to stay and play with their children.

The commitment to early intervention and prevention will be realised through proper, holistic support for families. There will be a significant improvement in universal family support services. This means:

  • Scotland will be providing families with support that lasts as long as required, with the collective acceptance that for some families this will be a long-term commitment.
  • Scotland will have a collective acceptance there will be some families who require longer-term support that goes beyond current practice.

It is babies, infants and young children who are currently most likely to be removed from their families. It is hard for decision makers to hear and properly listen to their voices and so judgments about the adequacy of their care are made by others. By 2030, Scotland will have done more to recognise the context in which families live and interactions will focus on supporting families to care for their babies, infants and children.

Where does Scotland need to be by 2030?

The route map to get there

Focus must be on supporting babies and infants. Scotland must support families at an earlier stage, so more babies and infants remain at home in loving, nurturing relationships. The barriers preventing this must be addressed quickly with appropriate and bespoke support. For progress to be made, family support must consistently begin pre-birth and focus on the needs of families with very young children.

The Independent Review of Community Learning and Development is expected to provide recommendations to Scottish Ministers and Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government’s draft Play Strategy is expected to be published.
Work must be prioritised to ensure the Scottish Government’s commitment to redirect 5% of health and social care budgets towards prevention is met and an action plan to do so must be developed.

A refreshed investment approach to the Scottish Government’s £500m Whole Family Wellbeing Fund will be published. The Scottish Government team are also working on an approach to common transformation barriers, alongside colleagues from Public Service Reform. This work will be scoped and milestones identified in addition to the ongoing evaluation of the Fund and work to improve commissioning practices and reduce unsustainable short-term funding arrangements.

The Whole Family Wellbeing Fund team within Scottish Government are continuing to develop an offer of support to local authorities, including in co-ordination with CYPIC through Element 2 funding. Local authorities must be given time and space to produce thoughtful and well-resourced plans for 2030—but they must also be fully supported to ensure they are well-placed to meet the needs of children and families today.

The Promise Scotland will facilitate a conversation with local authority and voluntary sector leaders and the Scottish Government to identify blockages and barriers with respect to implementing the conclusions of the Independent Care Review, relating to universally accessible holistic, whole family support, and determining what needs to happen to address them.

An evaluation of infant mental health service provision, which is being conducted by Public Health Scotland, will report in Summer 2024.

A Scottish Centre for Expertise in infant mental health is currently under development.

There must be acknowledgement that the responsibility for delivering universally accessible Whole Family Support does not rest with the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund team within the Scottish Government and the funding to resource services comes from multiple different funds, including with respect to mental health, community supports, poverty and substance use. In order to meet the promise’s conclusions around universally accessible whole family support progress is in disinvestment; streamlining funding sources; and improving commissioning practices.

Continued delivery of Early Learning and Childcare commitments and expected expansion of funded early years hours to younger children.

Clearer definitions around universal and intensive family support must be developed, as well as better understanding of how projects funded by the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund meet the requirements in the Blueprint for Holistic Family Support and the Routemap and National Principles of Holistic Whole Family Support.

Lessons must be learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, where more flexible funding arrangements were in place without over-burdensome reporting requirements. The cash-first approach available for families should be explored further.

There should be consideration of whether Scotland needs a national Family Support Strategy to bring together all the different strands of work linked to supporting families and ensure greater coherence, sustainability and connection. In considering this, lessons should be learned from the previous rollout of Sure Start and the recent work to embed Family Hubs in England.

Where progress is being made in local areas, further efforts should be made to share best practice and to understand how to scale up early help and support that is working.

Evaluations should be embedded into all supports so that there is a clear understanding of what is working to improve outcomes for children and families.

The actions outlined in the Voice foundation are fully embedded at every stage to progress actions on Universal family support. 

That universal support for children and families is easy to access and navigate, so that getting support can be part of every family’s day to day life. 

What is helping?

Universal Services and Parenting Education

Scotland has a wide range of universal supports available to children, young people, and families, including the Baby Box, Bookbug, PlayTalkRead and the Best Start programme. Various projects across Scotland are supporting parenting education and family learning, including the Solihull Online Programme, which is available to every parent across Scotland and the Families Learning Together Project (funded by the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund).

The Universal Health Visiting Pathway offers support to all of Scotland’s young families from pre-birth until a child starts school, and up to 3,000 families per year are supported by the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP).

Family Support

In July 2022 Scottish Government published the National Framework Principles of Holistic Whole Family Support. The £500m Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is currently operational, focusing on the system changes required to ensure children and families can access early help and support before they reach a crisis. Some local areas have used funding to design community services with families. Since 2022, £50m per annum has been allocated to support activity and a multi-year commitment of £32m to Children’s Services Planning Partnerships has been made. An evaluation framework is in place to review the Fund’s effectiveness as well as an ongoing Learning into Action Networks and Toolkit development. 

Scotland has seen significant investment in service integration of community-based services and integrated family support hubs to ensure children and families have access to timely and flexible support. Examples include:

  • Family Wellbeing Services
  • Family Group Decision Making 
  • Functional Family Therapy
  • Community Hubs 
  • Intensive Family Support Services
  • Flexible support services out with working hours
  • Models to better prepare parents and young people for statutory meetings
  • Welfare rights and financial supports including discretionary funds for pregnant women and families in need of support
  • ‘Involving Dads’ projects

Babies and Infants

There is a substantial body of evidence, established over many decades, showing that investing in the social and emotional health of babies (also known as infant mental health) sets the foundations for children to thrive. Scotland is seeing innovation in the development of infant mental health services across the country, which includes infant mental health teams within 11 health boards. 

Training, development and support for the workforce around the wellbeing of babies and infants is underway through toolkits such as The Voice of the Infant Best Practice Guidelines and Infant Pledge; the Infant Mental Health Service Development Guide and developing under and post-graduate national training courses in foundations for infant mental health. 

Who must act?

Education

Education
Health

Health
Housing

Housing
Justice

Justice
Local Government

Local Government
Public Bodies

Public Bodies
Scottish Government

Scottish Government
Scrutiny

Scrutiny
Voluntary sector

Voluntary sector

Here is what matters to children and families

There are services where I live that can help me, my family, and everyone in our neighbourhood, so that getting help is an easy and normal part of every community. 

My family and I have opportunities to meet and get to know other children, young people, and/or families with similar experiences to us. 

There are safe, clean places for me to go near my home where I can play, meet with others and get involved in activities I enjoy.

I have access to support that helps me feel better and more able to manage, whenever I need it at different points in my life. 

The places I go, and the rules I have to follow, help me to feel safe, confident, and understood.

People are working together to make sure my family and I are getting help early on, as soon as we need it, so that we can get through difficult times and stay together.  

Find out more about the what matters questions here.

Also connected to this theme

Documenting decisions
Listening
Participation and engagement
Intensive family support
Poverty
Decision making
Money and commissioning

Mapping

This is how Plan 24-30 relates to other frameworks and plans

Independent Care Review conclusions  Plan 21-24 priority area
the promise pgs.17-18; 46-49; 52 What matters to children and families
  Listening
  Whole family support
  Planning

 

 

UNCRC GIRFEC
Articles 3; 9; 18; 19; 20; 22; 23; 27; 33; 34; 39 Safe
Concluding observations 36a-c; 38a; 38f; 48a-d Healthy
  Active
  Nurtured



Plan 24-30 foundations