Families First Partnership Programme (FFPP)
The Families First Partnership (FFP) Programme is a national initiative led by the Department for Education (DfE) to transform how children and families are supported across England. It sets out expectations for safeguarding partners and aims to drive improvements in:
- Family Help – earlier, preventative support for families.
- Multi-agency child protection – better coordination across services.
- Family Group Decision-Making (FGDM) – empowering families to lead their own planning.
These reforms are part of the government’s Plan for Change, which seeks to give every child the best start in life by:
- tackling child poverty
- protecting children from abuse and harm
- breaking down barriers to opportunity through joined-up support
Why is Coventry implementing FFPP?
Coventry is participating in this national initiative as directed by the Department for Education to reform services with a statutory duty to safeguard children (Local Authority, Police, Health and Education), reflecting the city's ongoing commitment to improving support for families. The Families First Partnership Programme aligns with Coventry's priorities to:
- strengthen Early Help, providing families with support before issues escalate
- reduce escalation to statutory services by addressing needs earlier and more effectively
- improve multi-agency working, ensuring services collaborate for better outcomes
- deliver better outcomes for children and families across the city.
How will FFPP affect families?
Families will benefit from:
- a single point of contact, making it easier to access support
- fewer assessments and handovers, streamlining their experience with services
- support that is tailored, timely and coordinated according to their needs
- greater involvement in planning and decision-making, empowering families to shape their own support
- family decision-making will continue to be the heart of our offer, utilising the Coventry Families approach
Children FIRST
On Monday 1 June 2026, the former Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and the Early Help Front Door were merged into one service now called Children FIRST (The Children and Family Initial Response and Safeguarding Team). The service acts as a single coordinated access point where Requests for Support for children in Coventry are received and actioned.
Children FIRST has practitioners from key partners responsible for safeguarding children in Coventry and they are co-located in one building. Practitioners come from across health, children's services, police, education and probation, in addition other services are being brought into the service to strengthen decision making and information shared. Together, practitioners facilitate early, quality information sharing, analysis and decision-making, to safeguard children and young people effectively.
What does Children FIRST do?
Following receipt of a Request for Support, practitioners have conversations with families to gain an understanding of what life is like for them. Practitioners work alongside partner agencies to collate relevant and proportionate information which enhances their understanding of the families' circumstances and subsequently informs decisions on the level of support which may be required.
The information and recommendations gathered from different agencies builds a greater understanding of the circumstances of the family and any potential associated risks and/or impact on the child and/or young person. This informs decisions around the level of support and as a result agencies are able to act quickly in a co-ordinated and consistent way, ensuring that where it is necessary children are kept safe and ensures targeted support is available for families who need it most.
Where appropriate, Children FIRST will provide advice and guidance to partner agencies on how best to support families and for them to take appropriate actions based upon the Request for Support.
Feedback is given to professionals who have submitted a Request for Support.
Guidance on submitting a good quality Request for Support
Partners should be prepared to indicate the level of support they believe the family requires:
- Universal
- Early Supportâ
- Family Help (Targeted Early Help/Child in Need)â
- Family Help - Child Protection
Where partners believe the family is in need of Universal or Early Support, a Request for Support form is not required as this support can be accessed and delivered via local agencies from statutory, voluntary and community sectors working with the family to meet emerging needs. Families can visit the local Family Hub for support.
If partners are unsure they can speak to Early Help Assessment Coordinators (EHAC)/ Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL) to seek advice prior to submitting a request.
Families First Partnership Multi-Agency Workforce Development Strategy
Purpose
The purpose of the Families First Partnership Programme (FFPP) workforce development strategy is to ensure that all agencies within the family support and safeguarding system are collectively equipped to deliver the fundamental changes required by national children's social care reforms, creating a confident, skilled and integrated workforce capable of providing earlier, more effective and family-centred support.
The Families First Partnership (FFP) programme shifts focus towards intensive earlier help for families, more expert focused multi-agency child protection practice and greater use of family networks. This ambition is in line with Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026, which sets out how agencies, organisations, and individuals work together to provide help, support and protection - including universal services and community based early help, through Family Help (including targeted early help and statutory services under section 17 of the Children Act 1989), and action taken under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 to protect children from significant harm. Read the full Families First Partnership Programme guidance here: Families First Partnership programme - GOV.UK [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/families-first-partnership-programme]
This workforce strategy provides a structured framework through which partners can develop consistent capabilities, shared language and common approaches to identifying need, making decisions and working with family networks, ensuring that Family Help, multi-agency child protection teams (MACPT) and family group decision making can be successfully implemented in practice.
It also serves to embed learning from local and national safeguarding practice reviews into everyday work, strengthen leadership and supervision, and foster a culture of professional curiosity, collaboration and early intervention. Ultimately, the strategy exists to translate policy into practice by supporting the multiagency and multidisciplinary workforce to act earlier, work together more effectively and achieve measurable improvements in children’s safety, wellbeing and long-term outcomes.
Workforce vision
Coventry Family Valued is firmly established across the city as a restorative approach to working with children, young people and families. It is centred on empowering families to identify their own strengths, find solutions and make sustainable changes in their lives. At its core, Family Valued focuses on building strong, trusting relationships that enable positive outcomes for children and families. By strengthening these relationships, we can work collaboratively with families to improve children's wellbeing and experiences. Where children are at risk of harm, however, we will continue to take swift and decisive action to ensure their safety and protection.
To embed this approach consistently across the partnership, it is essential to understand and respond to the development needs of the multi-agency workforce. A key element of this strategy has been engagement with partners across the system to identify gaps in knowledge, explore opportunities for shared learning, and ensure consistent, collaborative messages are communicated and understood across all services.
Through this strategy, Coventry aims to develop a workforce that is confident, skilled and empowered to work effectively across agencies, delivering a seamless, child centred system of help, support and protection. Practitioners across all services will be equipped to recognise and respond to need at the earliest opportunity, particularly in relation to neglect and cumulative harm. They will build strong, respectful and trusting relationships with children, families and their wider networks, ensuring that support is coordinated, effective and focused on achieving the best possible outcomes.
The workforce will share a common language, consistent understanding of thresholds, and collective responsibility for outcomes, working as integrated teams around the family to provide the Right Help at the Right Time.
Leaders across the partnership will create a culture of learning, reflection and professional curiosity, supporting practitioners to challenge delay, work collaboratively and make confident, evidence-informed decisions.
Together, Coventry’s workforce continue to work in a preventative, relational and strengths-based approach, ensuring children are safer sooner, families are supported to make sustainable change, and services deliver consistent, high-quality outcomes for Coventry’s children and communities.
Governance
The Coventry Safeguarding Children Partnership (CSCP) holds a quarterly Implementation Sub-group meeting, bringing together representatives from partner agencies to oversee the implementation of safeguarding priorities, monitor progress against agreed objectives, and provide scrutiny and quality assurance of key workstreams, including multi-agency learning and development. This subgroup will govern the implementation of this strategy.
Evaluation
To ensure that learning from both local and national safeguarding reviews makes a meaningful difference to practice, we place a strong emphasis on evaluating our training and learning resources. This is particularly important as we continue to support the implementation of the Families First Partnership Programme, which aims to strengthen multi-agency working, promote earlier intervention, and improve outcomes for children, young people, and their families. Regular evaluation helps us understand whether training is equipping practitioners with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to embed these reforms into day-to-day practice.
At the end of every training session facilitated by the CSCP, participants are invited to complete an evaluation form via Microsoft Forms. A link to the evaluation is shared during the session and again alongside participants' certificates to encourage feedback from as many attendees as possible. The evaluation process enables participants to reflect on the relevance and quality of the training, whether the learning objectives have been met, and how the learning will influence their work with children and families. Where supporting resources, guidance documents, toolkits, or practice materials are provided, feedback is also sought on their usefulness, accessibility, and practical application.
The CSCP Training Officer reviews and analyses all evaluation responses to identify strengths, emerging themes, learning needs, and opportunities for improvement. Feedback plays a vital role in shaping future training, refining resources, and ensuring that learning opportunities remain responsive to both local priorities and national developments, including the ongoing Families First reforms.
Evaluation findings help us assess how effectively key messages are being understood and implemented across the workforce, and whether practitioners feel better equipped to work in a strengths-based, collaborative, and family-centred way. These findings are also collated and reflected within the Coventry Safeguarding Children’s Partnership yearly report, providing safeguarding partners with an overview of training activity, participation, impact, and key areas for development.
The report supports strategic planning and helps demonstrate how the training programme contributes to workforce development and improved outcomes for children, young people, and families.
Training and development
As the Families First approach continues to evolve, particularly through the implementation of the Families First Partnership Programme, it is important that learning opportunities are accessible, flexible, and responsive to the needs of the multi-agency workforce. The CSCP is committed to promoting a culture of continuous learning by providing a range of training and development opportunities that can be shared across partner agencies.
While traditional face-to-face and virtual training sessions remain an important part of the learning offer, the CSCP recognises that practitioners have different learning styles, responsibilities, and availability. To maximise accessibility and engagement, learning can be delivered through a variety of methods, including live webinars, multi agency workshops, lunch-and-learn sessions, practitioner forums, briefing events, reflective learning sessions, and communities of practice.
The development and use of learning resources also play a key role in supporting workforce development. Resources such as guidance documents, practice briefings, learning summaries, toolkits, checklists, infographics, and one-minute guides can provide practitioners with easily accessible information to support and reinforce learning. These resources can be shared across the CSCP through established communication channels, helping to ensure that key messages reach a wider audience and can be accessed at a time that suits individual practitioners.
The CSCP will also seek opportunities to share learning arising from local child safeguarding practice reviews, audits, national reviews, and emerging themes through a variety of formats. This may include podcasts, recorded presentations, thematic briefings, newsletters, workshops, and learning events. By using a blended approach to learning and development, the CSCP can reach a broader audience, encourage greater engagement, and support the consistent implementation of safeguarding practice across agencies.
Training Structure
| Learning Tier | Typical Roles | Core Training | Refresher Requirement | Additional Learning Opportunities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awareness and Understanding | Staff and volunteers who may meet children, young people, parents, or carers but do not have direct safeguarding responsibilities. |
|
Every 2 years |
|
| Building Practice Skills | Teachers, housing officers, youth workers, health staff, community staff, family support workers. |
|
Every 2 years with regular updates |
|
| Applying Practice | Experienced practitioners with regular family help and safeguarding responsibilities. |
|
Every 2 years with regular updates |
|
| Advanced and Specialist Practice | Specialist safeguarding practitioners, designated safeguarding leads, social workers, health professionals, police officers, and subject matter experts. |
|
Every 2 years with annual updates |
|
| Leading Practice | Team Managers, Service Managers, Designated Safeguarding Leads, Heads of Service, Partnership Leads, and senior leaders. |
|
Ongoing |
|
To support different learning styles and workforce needs, development opportunities may be delivered through:
- face-to-face training
- virtual instructor-led sessions
- multi-agency workshops
- pre-recorded webinars
- e-learning modules
- practitioner forums
- lunch-and-learn sessions
- podcasts and recorded presentations
- practice briefings and learning summaries
- 7-minute briefings
- toolkits and guidance documents
- reflective learning and supervision discussions
- partnership learning events and conferences
This framework supports a culture of continuous learning, enabling practitioners and leaders to access development opportunities appropriate to their role while embedding the collaborative, family-centred principles of the Families First Partnership Programme.