Families First Partnership Programme

Government Transformation and Service Delivery

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: £2.9bn
Published schedule: 01/04/2025 – 31/03/2029
NISTA delivery confidence: Not disclosed
Senior responsible owner: Daniel Foster

What the project is for

The Families First Partnership programme is a national transformation programme to enable local authorities and safeguarding partners to implement the rollout of Family Help, multi-agency child protection teams and increasing the use of Family Networks. The programme was announced in November 2024 and commenced in April 2025. Local authorities should use the ring-fenced funding provided via the local government finance settlement to deliver the programme. There is a national expectation of fully operationalised delivery by March 2027. The core goal of the programme is to rebalance children’s services away from crisis intervention and towards earlier help. The programme supports the government’s mission to provide children with the best start in life, keep children safe and break down barriers to opportunity.

Departmental delivery commentary

Programme delivery confidence for 2025/26 is Amber. The programme started this year and has moved at pace with national milestones being delivered as planned. This includes confirmation of multi-year funding (£2.4bn over 3 years), published grant determination letters and clear national expectations for full delivery by March 2027 (set out in the updated programme guide). The first independent evaluation report of the Families First for Children Pathfinders programme was also published, alongside several learning documents and engagement events which are accessible by all safeguarding partners and will support national rollout. These steps have provided local areas with ring-fenced funding and clear direction to progress the rollout of family help, multi-agency child protection teams and increased used of family networks. The Amber rating reflects ongoing delivery risk rather than a decline in performance, driven primarily by the complexity of the multi-agency reforms and the reliance on local areas (local authorities and their safeguarding partners) to deliver this change alongside wider pressures and potential competing priorities across public sector reforms. Early insight from delivery plans (which are signed by all safeguarding partners) and the first three monitoring data returns, show commitment to the programme from most local areas during the transformation year, but there remains variance in progress and pace. Looking ahead, programme delivery confidence will depend on local area progress towards the March 2027 expectation of full delivery. Local authorities will need to protect the ring-fenced funding for spend on prevention, and translate national guidance and local ambition into sustained service change that benefits children and families in the local area. National priorities for 2026/27 are strengthening monitoring and assurance, targeting delivery support where risk is identified as highest, and continued work with partners at a local and national level (specifically health and police) to maintain a unified approach for local delivery. Confidence will improve as quarterly monitoring returns track local delivery progress across key (already defined) delivery indicators more closely – meaning timely action can be taken in areas of underperformance and emerging best practice more readily shared.

Schedule

The programme's end-date at 25/26-Q4 remained at 31/03/2029. This is the first year of reporting for this programme, and the end date remains unchanged from go-live.

Cost

The programme's departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) is 3,062,773,075 (as agreed up to 28/29). This is the first year of reporting for this programme, so there is no previously reported figure for comparison.

Benefits

The programme's departmentally agreed Benefits at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) stand at 0. This is primarily due to this being the first year of reporting for this programme, and yet to reach the stage where benefits will be delivered. However, the programme will deliver monetised benefits. It is anticipated that these will be confirmed during FY26/27 as evidence of implementation becomes available to refine estimates.