Early Help Strategy 2023 - 2027 consultation

We asked

We asked for for your views on the draft Children and Families Early Help Strategy, through a public consultation, consultation with children and young people during the Christmas BACE play provision, focus groups with parents and members and feedback from partners and internal staff. We asked if the strategy was easy to read and understand, if the strategy set out what children and families wanted to see, if it covered what was important to them, we asked about the design and layout to see if the strategy would be of interest to anyone who could access or deliver Early Help

We received feedback from 90 children and young people between 11-16 years, to the survey questions that specifically looked at whether the outcomes for their age groups resonated with them, their opinions on the design of the document and how easy it was to understand.

We received 83 responses to the online questionnaire.

You said

Children and Young people gave entirely positive responses on the children-friendly survey with no requests to change anything.

Generally positive feedback from parents/adults who said they particularly enjoyed the ordering of the document and viewed it as a guide of sorts on what to expect with their children as they grow.

You said you felt that it would be of benefit to parents for the document to be slightly more operational and to explain how a parent would go about accessing the support spoken about in the document, and what the criteria are for accessing the non-universal services. You agreed with the vision for each age group but would appreciate if the text was justified. You wanted the Early Help Hub details included next to the map, instead of separated. You wanted the priorities and outcomes to stand out and to have more specific detail on how children and families with SEND needs can access the support. You said you wanted a clear action plan to support the strategy.

We did

We updated the strategy to include more information on where to access support and what support is available through links to the Children and Family EARLY Help hubs. We added specific detail on the Local offer to support children with SEND needs. We made the outcomes and priorities stand out and be clearer in the document. We included the hub details with the maps showing the hub localities. The strategy is not an operational document however we ensured clear links in the document to our webpages and hub contacts where the operational delivery is set out. We did include how we will work together across the partnership in the strategy.We made changes to the graphics and layout following the feedback. You can view the final Early Help Strategy 2023 – 2027 here.