Three policies that could improve parenting support in the budget

Plenty has been written about the government’s flagship childcare policy, which is due to launch in April, but what else do Sunak, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, and children’s minister David Johnston have in store to support the sector? 

All eyes now turn to the spring budget, a key fiscal event in the run up to this year’s general election. Here are three areas this Government should focus on to improve outcomes for families across the country. 

Accelerating recommendations from the Care Review 

The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care provides a fantastic vision, the chief recommendation of which is the importance of rebalancing support from costly crisis interventions towards early support. Chancellor Hunt himself has reaffirmed the government’s desire to do so. 

But now it’s time for political decision-makers to put their money where their mouth is and urgently accelerate implementing the review’s recommendations. 

Josh MacAlister, who led the review, recommended £2.6bn over five years would be needed to reform the system, but to date only £200m over two years has been provided. 

Implementing the review’s recommendations will facilitate both social and economic benefits. MacAlister argues his proposed level of investment would ultimately save the taxpayer money by reducing the likely size of the care population by as much as 30 per cent by 2032.

By focussing on investment into evidence-based solutions, there is an opportunity to bring together and fully integrate key programmes - including Family Hubs, Start for Life, Early Help, Supporting Families, and Family Help – a process that would ensure we are able to deliver timely, proven solutions for every family, at any stage of their journey. 

Continued Family Hubs funding and a national extension

Family Hubs are designed to be a one stop shop, providing support and information to families through a variety of services, including support for the home learning environment, parenting programmes, and perinatal mental health/parent-infant relationship support. 

The government announced £300m of investment into the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme in 2021. In early 2024 it announced that Family Hubs in all 75 local authorities were now open. 

The next step must be to commit to continue funding existing Family Hubs, and to then complete the rollout of Family Hubs to include every local authority in the country. David Fortherfill of the Local Government Authority recently called for an extension, saying: “It is good news that new Family Hubs are open for people who need them and this is a testament to the hard work of councils. We’d now like to see this scheme extended to all councils so these transformative benefits can be felt across the country.” 

Family Hubs are a fantastic initiative, and the government’s accompanying ‘Little Moments Matter’ awareness campaign can play a crucial role in breaking down stigma around parents asking for support. 

National rollout of digital parenting programmes 

Research carried out by Triple P found that 87 per cent of parents said they would ask for help, but only 37 per cent would know where to find it. More than a third would turn to Mumsnet or Facebook for advice, rather than evidence-based support. 

Rolling out an evidence-based digital parenting programme nationally can ensure the government is achieving best outcomes for families by providing a digital solution to complement the in-person benefits of Family Hubs. It would also help to normalise asking for, and seeking, parenting support, something that would be hugely helpful in tackling stigma.

Helen Lincoln, chair of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, recently called on the UK government to introduce a national digital early help service. Helen specifically highlighted the need to explore evidence-based digital solutions, given parents’ propensity to reach for their phones and laptops to seek advice online, alongside the pressure on the current early help system. 

The Australian federal government recently ran a competitive tender process before awarding the contract for a nationwide rollout of online parenting programmes to Triple P, giving all families with children under 12 across Australia free access from mid-2022. 

Based on costs and uptake in Australia, at an initial budget of £25m per year, spread equally over three years, a UK national rollout of evidence-based parenting programmes would reach hundreds of thousands of families annually. 

Fiscally, this policy could also end up saving the government money in the longer-term, with The Centre for Mental Health estimating that every £1 spent on evidence-based parenting support results in at least £3 of savings to social care, health and education in less than five years. 

• Matt Buttery is chief executive of Triple P UK & Ireland & honorary associate professor at the University of Warwick