Research and analysis

Summary: Evaluation of phase 1 of the Local Family Offer pilot

Published 10 January 2019

Authors

A report of research carried out by Francesco Arzilli, Kate Lager, Hazel Tetsill and Michael Berry on behalf of the Family Analysis team at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The editing and publication process was overseen by Anisah Kaleemullah, Kate Warner and Ailsa Redhouse.

Introduction

The Local Family Offer pilot was developed from an evidence-based understanding of the importance for child outcomes of supporting current and prospective parents to create and maintain good quality relationships. The Local Family Offer piloted provision of the expertise and evidence for 12 local authorities in England to develop innovative local strategies to support families to sustain a safe, stable, and nurturing family environment for their children in 2 phases:

• phase 1 aimed to reduce family breakdown and improve relationship quality through local authorities by supporting them to develop innovative strategies to promote family stability and relationship quality
• phase 2 built on learning from the first phase, refocusing on reducing parental conflict to improve outcomes for children in light of a review of the evidence base

This research report provides evidence from the initial grant funding application stage of phase 1 only. It also includes research with local authorities who were invited to participate in the pilots but ultimately did not proceed.

In addition, Annex A summarises interim evaluation findings from the 12 local authorities that received grant funding. The local authorities each opted to implement slightly different programmes or interventions as part of their Local Family Offer, as well as different combinations of these. These involved:

• staff interventions
• parent/couple interventions
• system interventions

The pilot model

A staged process leading to an application to grant funding was implemented to support local authorities to develop Local Family Offer provision. The staged process consisted of:

1. Opportunity assessment – coaches worked with each local authority to produce a needs assessment to gain a fuller understanding of how each area supports couple and co-parenting relationships, and where improvements could be made.
2. Strategy development – coaches worked with each local authority to co-develop a strategy for local family offer provision, based on a theory of change (an evidence and theory-based model).
3. Application for grant funding – coaches worked with local authorities to develop business cases with costed delivery proposals for Local Family Offer provision. Local authorities were able to submit their business cases to DWP in order to apply for funding to implement provision.

Consultative support (coaching) was available to local authorities throughout the staged process. Coaches provided local authorities with access to evidence and expertise at each stage of the pilot.

Local authorities participating in the pilot also received free access to Parents as Partners training. The training was delivered by Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships to enable frontline practitioners to help parents improve the quality of the co-parental relationship and parenting skills through delivering the Parents as Partners programme.

Evaluation aims and methodology

There were 3 main research objectives:

• to explore local authorities’ experiences of participating in the Local Family Offer pilot
• to describe the Local Family Offer provision developed as a result of the pilot
• to identify key learning

These objectives together supported the overall evaluation aims: to inform how DWP might structure similar support for local authorities in the future, and what might be recommended as best practice for local authorities when embedding support for parental relationships within family-centred support.

One-to-one or paired qualitative interviews took place either over the telephone or in person with:

• 17 local authority staff, covering 11 of the 12 local authorities that participated in the pilot and the 3 local authorities that withdrew before the grant-funding process (principally due to resource constraints and perceived lack of alignment with local priorities)
• 4 coaches
• practitioners from one training provider

Participants

For several local authorities the Local Family Offer fitted neatly with their strategic direction at the time, whereas for others the pilot was an additional standalone project. This was reflected in their level of experience in supporting couple relationships and the level of priority assigned to the process.

Local authorities varied in the level of involvement by senior staff. Wide involvement of local authority staff was common, and supported by coaches, but there were differences between local authorities in whether they involved partners in the development of their strategy.

Coaches from both Innovation Unit and OnePlusOne worked together to provide support to local authorities. It was felt to be a collaborative relationship with each organisation providing support tailored to their expertise. Coaches provided a range of support to local authorities throughout the staged process of the Local Family Offer.

Experiences of participating in the pilot

Overall, the pilot process was seen to improve the quality of local service offers made to families. The pilot model was positively regarded by local authorities in terms of providing structure and increasing their engagement and motivation, although local authorities did display a range of views with regards to the specific elements of the staged process.

For example, some concerns were raised regarding the clarity of the pilot timeline and the coaching support on offer; application deadlines were thought to be too tight or set without enough notice in some cases, and some local authorities were unsure about the type and extent of support coaches were able to offer. Some local authorities reported a need for further coaching support, some would have preferred choice in the type of support they received, and others would have liked coaches to have supported the sharing of learning between local authorities.

The main success factors of the coaching offer included coaches’ abilities to provide focus and motivation; to supply relevant information and evidence data in an accessible format for local authorities; to provide feedback and challenge needed to improve the quality of Local Family Offer strategies and applications for grant funding; and to facilitate meetings in ways that added value.

Take up of the Parents as Partners training offer for staff varied across local authorities, with a range of reasons reported as to why local authorities did or did not take up the offer. Where training had taken place it was delivered to a mixture of job roles, with positive feedback. Some were considering adopting a train the trainer approach.

The 3 local authorities that withdrew from the Local Family Offer highlighted limited resources in terms of time and money, as well as what they saw to be misalignment between their own immediate priorities and those of the pilot. All 3 local authorities, however, expressed an interest to learn from others continuing to take part in the pilot.

The Local Family Offer provision

All 12 local authorities that completed the staged process of the pilot reported an intention to deliver Local Family Offer provision. This provision had one or more of the following features in common across all local authorities:

• workforce development and culture change
• delivery of relationship services or programmes
• wider systems or measurement changes

However, strategies for delivering the provision varied in targeting primary prevention, support for at-risk groups, and intensive support for individuals with high levels of need.

Local Family Offer provision tended to be perceived as being sustainable beyond the timescales associated with the pilot by local authorities and coaches. Important factors associated with having capacity for sustained change included:

• involvement of stakeholders and partners
• breadth of Local Family Offer provision
• depth of Local Family Offer provision
• level of innovation
• strategic fit

Longer term perspectives

Interviewees generally felt that the pilot model was implemented successfully, it had raised the profile of supporting relationships, and put it on local authorities’ agendas. It encouraged them to think in new ways and provided credibility to carry out work to support couples’ relationships.

Sharing of learning between Local Family Offer local authorities and more widely was seen as having real benefits, particularly for the longer term. At the time of the research this was not necessarily being maximised though local authorities were conscious of the potential benefits this would bring.

Generally it was felt that central government should continue to work with local authorities to expand support for relationship issues, although there were mixed views on what this should look like. It was felt that this work should not all be outsourced to local authorities – central government has a role to play in supporting local partnerships, conducting evaluations to capture people’s experiences, and sharing evidence nationally. Local authorities were generally wary about the introduction of central targets in the area of relationships, although it was suggested that locally-relevant targets could help.

Main lessons for the future

Local authorities should:

• ensure an integrated approach – this work should be considered as cross cutting; extending across a number of local authority departments and main partner agencies
• develop provision as a multi-agency offer to ensure well-integrated services, referral pathways, and workforce development across all relevant services
• identify a senior local authority lead as point of contact, with a remit to engage others as appropriate
• consider developing and implementing provision at opportune time to maximise strategic fit and increase sustainability of provision
• include a focus on systems changes as a mechanism to embed provision
• encourage innovation and experimentation to address local needs, particularly where local authorities are faced by significant challenges
• develop an accessible evidence base to share learning and best practice between local authorities and to support wider implementation of relationship services
• develop robust data collection and evaluation approaches to measure the impact of provision and sustain buy-in to this agenda

Policy developments since this research was undertaken

Following the positive response to phase 1 of the Local Family Offer, a decision was made to extend the trial for a further period, refocussing on reducing parental conflict in response to the newly published Early Intervention Foundation report What works to enhance interparental relationships and improve outcomes for children?.

The Reducing Parental Conflict Programme, which aims to encourage councils across England to integrate services and approaches which address parental conflict into their local services for families, has used many of the important lessons emerging from the Local Family Offer to influence the current programme.

Read the full report Evaluation of phase 1 of the Local Family Offer pilot.