Service provision: strong connections
Bold Start, Bright Futures - a system built on strong relationships and local connections
What is in place?
Coventry’s Best Start Family Hub (BSFH) network is a well-established and significant asset, recognised nationally for good practice. Eight Best Start Family Hubs across Coventry provide a consistent, locality-based offer of multi-agency support, including universal and targeted services, evidence based parenting programmes, early help, and clear, accessible pathways into health, SEND and family support services.
These BSFH hubs act as trusted community spaces where families can access help early, receive joined-up support and build strong relationships with professionals.
Coventry also places strong emphasis on strengthening the Home Learning Environment (HLE) through the ‘Playing and Learning Together’ approach. This recognises the critical role that everyday interactions at home play in supporting early language development, social-emotional wellbeing and longer-term educational outcomes.
Families are supported through a blended digital and face-to-face offer, with the Coventry Families digital platform providing accessible online information, guidance and resources, alongside in-person support delivered through Family. Hubs and community settings. This flexible approach enables families to engage in ways that best meet their needs.
Despite these strengths, persistent inequalities, reductions in participation in early education, and increasing financial pressures continue to limit access for some families.
Targeted outreach, culturally competent practice and consistent relationship-based engagement are, therefore essential to ensure that all children benefit fully from Coventry’s early years offer; particularly those living in the most disadvantaged communities.
Strengthening connections across the wider family support system will require continued collective effort. The Local Authority will lead this work, in close partnership with health services, public services, early education and childcare providers, schools and the voluntary, community and faith sector. Together, the aim is to further align services, pathways and resources to create a coherent, integrated local offer that builds on existing strengths and maximises local expertise and trusted relationships.
The voluntary and community sector remains a vital partner in this system, drawing on strong community connections and social infrastructure to engage families who may be less likely to access statutory services.
Opportunities within the wider impact economy, including social enterprises and purpose-driven organisations, will continue to complement public funding and support long-term sustainability.
Best Start Family Hubs and the Healthy Babies programme sit at the centre of this approach. Together, they strengthen end-to-end support from pregnancy to age five, embed prevention and early intervention, improve school readiness, and support SEND reforms. These services also contribute to the emerging Neighbourhood Health Service Plan, complement Families First Partnerships and support delivery of the Healthy Child Programme.
Through this coordinated and progressive approach, Coventry will continue to build on what already works well – reaching diverse communities, reducing inequalities and ensuring that more babies, children and families receive timely support that makes the greatest difference to their outcomes.
What will Coventry Best Start Family Hubs provide?
Best Start Family Hubs will offer:
- parenting and home learning environment support, including stay-and-play sessions
- early support for children with additional needs
- preventative and universal Healthy Babies provision including infant feeding, perinatal mental health, parent-infant relationships, health visiting, maternity, safeguarding and SEND support
- engagement activities that build connections and trust such as community events, creative sessions and wellbeing activities
- connections to wider services including health and wellbeing support, safeguarding, cost-of-living assistance, wider family support and services for children aged 5+ and young people
- help families to access support through on-site family navigators and community outreach activity
Each BSFH Hub will bring core services together, tailoring support to local needs and making it easier for families to find the right help at the right time.
What will the Healthy Babies Programme provide?
Healthy Babies services will be at the heart of BSFHs, and the wider Best Start Family Hub network. They will strengthen delivery and integration across health and family services and will form a key part of the emerging Neighbourhood Health architecture. Healthy Babies services encompass the full range of statutory and non-statutory support available to families from conception to age 2, including:
- infant feeding support
- Perinatal mental health
- Parent–infant relationship support
- Health visiting
- Maternity services
- Safeguarding
- SEND support
Our wider service offer will include:
Health and well-being:
- Health visit visiting 0 to 5
- Public Health 0 to 19
- Mental Health
- Maternity midwifery and neonatal
- Nutrition and healthy growth
- Oral health improvement
- Screen time
- Smoking cessation
- Substance misuse support
- Vaccinations
- New Birth Registration
Financial and Welfare assistance regarding:
- debt advice, money and welfare advice
- food support
- fuel poverty
- parental leave pay
- social welfare advice service
Wider family support services including support to:
- Armed forces families
- Children affected by parental imprisonment
- reducing parental conflict
- support for adoptive kinship and foster families
- support for separated and separating parents carers
- targeted family support
- Family help
Safeguarding:
- Domestic abuse support
- tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation
- Family Help
- Relational Approach
- Sector Workforce Development
- Trauma Informed practice