The Children's Services Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the proposed committee work programme for 2025/2026, and to hear a presentation on Early Help and Family Hubs. The committee also reviewed decisions made at the meeting of the Executive Cabinet Member for Children's Services on 9 September 2025, including the approval of funding for a Family Hubs digital offer, the extension of contracts for Assistant Educational Psychologists, and changes to the staffing arrangements within the Referral and Assessment Service.

Family Hubs Digital Offer

The Executive Cabinet Member approved the procurement of professional services, content management, and web resources from the G-Cloud 14 framework¹ to deliver a Family Hubs Digital Offer and Directory Platform. The digital offer will provide 24/7 online access for families who cannot easily reach a physical Family Hub.

The new platform will also allow for the development of an online directory resource, which can be used by community providers to share information about local activities and services. The Department for Education has allocated £1.474m via a Section 31 Grant for 2025/26 to support these services.

Two options were considered for the development of the digital offer:

• Option One: To keep the content within a specific area of bolton.gov.uk and commission professional services to improve the current content. This option was rejected because it would not reflect the joint working of the physical spaces where health and community services work alongside the council, and changes to content would be less dynamic.
• Option Two: To utilise the Government G-Cloud 14 Framework to procure appropriate services by competition. This option was approved because it would allow for co-production sessions with residents and users of Family Hubs, and have dynamic features to allow for bookings, assessments, easy searches, videos and other media.

The Executive Cabinet Member considered that:

Option Two would ensure that the appropriate, flexible web-site platform was available to support Family Hubs and future development around the online information offer. This was a key expectation from the Department for Education encompassing both the digital offer and the development of any new resource/service in collaboration with families.

The new platform will also allow for the sharing of content resources from trusted sources such as the NHS, which is seen as a critical success factor in building trust with users. The new platform would also form the basis of a Community Information Directory, which would replace the existing My Life in Bolton website.

Review of Referral and Assessment Service

The Executive Cabinet Member approved changes to the staffing arrangements within the Referral and Assessment Service, following a recent review. The changes include increasing the number of teams from three to five, in order to alleviate immediate pressure, reduce caseload activity, and support better outcomes for children. Full details of the proposed staffing changes were provided in the report.

Assistant Educational Psychology Contract Extension

The Executive Cabinet Member approved a 12-month extension to the two-year fixed term contracts for two posts of Assistant Educational Psychologists, which were due to expire on 31 October 2025. The additional capacity from the two posts has enabled the Education Psychology Service to run effectively and supported a range of early intervention work, such as the delivery of training, the facilitation of collaborative problem-solving solution circles, and support with projects such as Autism in Schools and Partnership for the Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools. The posts also assisted with Early Years work. The extension was approved due to the difficulties in recruiting and retaining Educational Psychologists.

Proposed Committee Work Programme for 2025/2026

The committee considered the proposed Committee Work Programme 2025-2026.

Early Help and Family Hubs

The committee received a presentation on Early Help and Family Hubs.