A Closer Look at Family Hubs: Insights, Voices, and Outcomes
Following our evaluation of Kent County Council (KCC)’s Family Hubs and Start for Life offer, 31ten was commissioned by Kent County Council to generate additional insights into the barriers and facilitators that may impact the uptake of these offers.
This project focussed on families with infants aged 0-2 years old, who are already using Early Help services and are from underrepresented backgrounds such as Care leavers; families of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller background; families of Asian ethnic background and Fathers or male carers.
The aims of this were to understand barriers and facilitators that impact uptake of the Start for Life and Family Hubs offer for these focus groups, explore levels of awareness of the offer and capture insights on the experiences of families receiving Early Help. The main output of this work intended to make recommendations to improve access to the offer for families.
The project sought to answer key research questions around the lived experiences of families, barriers and facilitators for uptake of the Family Hubs and Start for Life offer and opportunities for service improvement. We employed co-production, mixed-methods research and close collaboration with localities and Family Hub teams for this work. The findings directly informed a comprehensive set of recommendations and an actionable, co-designed delivery plan for future development of the Family Hub model.
The Role
To support KCC in understanding family experiences and shaping improvements to the Family Hub offer, 31ten delivered the following work:
Design and deliver an extensive insights and engagement programme
- We designed a mixed-methods engagement programme, starting with a bespoke sampling strategy that combined surveys, interviews, focus groups and persona development to capture the views of families and staff across Kent. Engagement methods were carefully selected to reach underserved groups, and participation was analysed by geography and demographic characteristics.
Analyse family experiences, barriers, and facilitators to engagement
- We conducted detailed analysis of the family journey, from initial awareness of Family Hubs through to accessing support – identifying key barriers such as stigma, digital exclusion, geographical/rurality challenges, lack of awareness of the offer, challenges with booking systems and concerns about judgement. Insights were derived from both survey findings and rich qualitative data. This analysis also highlighted facilitators of positive engagement, including trusted relationships with staff, informal drop-in opportunities, flexible delivery models, and community-based approaches.
Recruiting and engaging families through qualitative research
- Through persona mapping and thematic analysis of insights, we worked with KCC to understand the specific needs and experiences of key groups including families with English as an additional language, rural communities, care leavers, Dads/male carers, Gypsy Roma Traveller families, and parents with mental health or SEND-related needs. This was supplemented with a wider evidence review.
Co-design recommendations and validating findings through workshops
- We ran workshops with Early Help Service Managers and the Family Hub Partnership & Participation team to test, refine, and validate recommendations. These sessions also surfaced existing initiatives and informed the structure and content of the final action plan.
Produce a strategic set of recommendations and a multi-phase action plan
- We synthesised qualitative and quantitative insights into a clear, actionable set of recommendations across six categories—community-based offer, tailoring the offer, promotion, practice and approach, enhancing specific services, and developing an “open door” model. This was accompanied by a structured phased action plan setting out deliverables, ownership, and stakeholder groups for implementation.
Key Outcomes
- Our work enabled Kent to hear from underserved and vulnerable families not accessing Family Hubs, developing valuable insights and recommendations to help Family Hub teams understand and tailor activities and their digital offer to get these groups in the door.
- A detailed action plan allowed Early help and Family Hub teams to measure current progress against proposed recommendations, whilst securing buy in from relevant teams across Family Hubs and Early Help to drive the action plan from an early stage.
- 31ten’s insights programme reached over 65 community members, stakeholders and KCC staff across Kents geography. The insights programme created a strong evidence base on how families engage with Early Help and Family Hub services, including a granular understanding of barriers, needs and preferences of target groups.
- The combination of lived experience insights and wider evidence review gives KCC a robust platform for future transformation and continuous improvement.
“The Kent Family Hub Programme has benefited from the expertise and partnership provided by 31ten Consulting. Throughout the delivery of the Start for Life and Family Hub Insights project, 31ten consistently demonstrated professionalism and a collaborative approach that has added real value to our work. They developed a robust sampling strategy and engaged effectively with our Early Help teams, enabling high quality insight gathering across staff focus groups, and family interviews. 31ten worked at pace and maintained excellent communication, providing clear updates through our monthly contract meetings and ensuring actions were completed efficiently, including the development of interview materials, surveys and focus group tools. The team produced both interim and final insight reports which offered rich analysis on barriers, facilitators and family experiences, supporting our programme's understanding of underserved groups and informing meaningful recommendations for improvement. Their responsiveness, flexibility, and commitment to meeting project milestones have made them a reliable and valued partner. We are grateful for their contribution to shaping our Family Hubs offer and strengthening our evidence base to improve outcomes for families across Kent.”
Kent Family Hub’s Programme Team
