Families First Partnership

Social Care reforms

The Government is proposing important changes to how children and families are supported. The aim is to offer every child the best start in life with safety, security, and opportunities to achieve and thrive. The Social Care Reforms (Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive, DfE November 2024) introduce a whole-system, child-centred approach to how we deliver services to children and families; making sure that help and protection is provided in a way that prioritises family-led, relationship-based support and solutions.

This means over the next 12 to 18 months, Somerset Children’s Social Care will undergo change to how we deliver services to children and families. Key components of this reform include building on the strengths of existing universal and community based early help delivery models, to continue delivering a family help service, with practitioners and social workers in the same team.

As part of the government’s aim to provide children with the best start in life and break down barriers to opportunity, the national Families First Partnership (FFP) programme aims to encourage services to work together and take a more joined-up, family focused approach to early help and child protection by establishing local Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs). These multi-disciplinary teams will include a minimum of social care, police, health and education professionals undertaking statutory child protection investigations and interventions, offering a local and accessible centre of expertise. A focus on family group decision-making will also be embedded.

It emphasises early intervention and the importance of all services (including the local authority, schools, health, police and community groups) working closely together to support families effectively. The goal is to ensure every family can access the right help and support when they need it, with a strong emphasis on early intervention to prevent crisis and improved outcomes for children and families.

The diagram below shows the government vison for this integrated approach:

This diagram from the Families First Partnership guidance, shows how different support and services can operate together to wrap help and support around families and adapt as needs change.

In Somerset we are co-designing options with children and families to implement these exciting changes.

Your views matter to us:

We want to hear from you. This is your chance to play a key role in shaping the Families First Partnership programme here in Somerset.

We’re inviting you to share your experiences, ideas, and recommendations on what you think the Families First Partnership programme should look like. We want to know what you think is working well in children and families’ services currently, and what changes you would like to see to improve how we work together.

This is your chance to help us co-design and co-produce the future Family Help Service, and your engagement and feedback will play a crucial role in shaping how we implement the social care reforms in Somerset.

How to get involved:

Consultation: Your engagement and feedback will help us co-design and co-produce how the Families First Partnership is developed and rolled out across the county. We will review all the responses provided and will let you know how this will or has informed any changes we make to improve support for children and families.

To complete the consultation and share your views >>Click Here

Consultation closes 27 Nov 2025

Focus Groups: We are planning to organise focus groups for those who wish to participate and contribute further to the conversation. These sessions will provide an opportunity for open discussion, sharing of ideas and collaboration. If you would like to be part of a focus group in the future, please provide your details once you have completed the consultation sections.

If you have any questions please email us at: socialcarereforms@somerset.gov.uk

Find out more:

For further information and background we recommend multi agency safeguarding professionals to read: