Purpose

To endorse insourcing of Family Group Conferencing Service

Decision

RESOLVED:

To agree to the insourcing of the Family Group Conference service to create an in-house Family Led Decision Making Team within the Family Help Service at the Council.  The contract with the current provider will end on 30th September 2026, and the full insourced service will commence on 1st October 2026.

Reasons For Decision

Options Appraisal 

1. An insourcing/outsourcing Option Appraisal has been completed and included as exempt appendix 1.
2. Sections 2 and 4 set out the drivers for insourcing which include:

·  Responding to new requirements in the Family First Programme, and Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026

·  Increasing family choice

·  Improved capacity for both independently chaired and Family Help Practitioner chaired meetings

·  Improved feedback mechanisms to ensure continuous improvement of provision.

·  Ensure strong financial controls and monitoring of FNSPs

1. One of the main challenges of insourcing a service is ensuring sufficient staff with the skills and capabilities to deliver the provision. To address this, benchmarking has been conducted with other Local Authorities which have insourced FLDM teams to understand the required capabilities. This exercise has shown that a majority of the required skills align with those already held by staff across the Children and Education Group Directorate. There is also management capacity to oversee the service already located within the Family Help Service
2. There are some particular techniques that staff will need to learn to effectively operate within the FLDM team. As part of the Family First Partnership Programme, the provider Relational Activism has been commissioned to support the development of FLDM including training for staff. This training programme will include ensuring that the FLDM team are versed in a variety of techniques to support them in accessing wider family networks.
3. Due to the small size of the FLDM team there is already sufficient space for them to operate from the Hackney Service Centre.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

1. Do nothing: The current contract would expire on 30th September 2026 at which point Hackney would be unable to meet its statutory obligations to offer FLDM as part of pre-proceedings.
2. Retendering the current FLDM Service - Hackney has considered retendering the FLDM service with a new specification improved with learning from the current provision, and including new requirements such as FNSPs. The additions to the specification would include requirements to:

·  Maintain a presence within Hackney Service centre

·  Offer case consultation ahead of referrals

·  Offer a wider range of FLDM beyond the Family Group Conference Model

·  Expand the number of FLDM meetings offered

·  Oversee the distribution of FNSPs

1. This option would allow Hackney to address some of the new requirements including expanding the amount of FLDM meetings available, offering them at more points within a families journey, and requiring a service presence within Hackney offices to improve soft touch points with Family Help Teams.
2. However, this option was rejected as it would not allow for strong oversight of FNSPs, and because an external provider would necessitate a handover for families to the provider which is currently a point where families disengage with the service.
3. The Family First Partnership Programme is still ongoing and so there is scope for requirements to change. An insourced option gives greater control to adapt provision in response to new requirements or good practice shared by Pathfinder Authorities.
4. There are risks associated with this option as there is only a small market of FLDM providers in London. Of these providers none are currently based within Hackney, and the majority primarily deliver the FGC model.