Dr Jo Casebourne, chief executive of the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) said:

“The reforms outlined by the independent review herald an exciting moment of change for the entire sector focused on helping families to thrive, from early help to children’s social care. Crucially, it lays out robust proposals for a reshaped system that can provide effective support to more families, when they need it most, and before problems get worse. This plan has the potential to achieve its stated goal of a ‘radical reset’ for a vital system of support for hundreds of thousands of children and families.”

Donna Molloy, director of policy and practice at the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) said:

“The independent review provides much-needed recognition of the value of skilled, evidence-informed family support. A new single offer of family help that brings together local partners to provide support tailored to family needs could significantly increase the number of families receiving help that makes a difference.

“The proposed National Children’s Social Care Framework is an important step forward, as a route to setting down the outcomes that really matter for family help and providing guidance on the interventions or approaches with the strongest evidence of achieving these outcomes. As our report published today shows, there are interventions with good evidence of improving outcomes for children which are not widely available.

“The recommendation for new central support to develop the skills of the family support workforce is particularly welcome, and paves the way for long overdue policy focus on this area. These proposals could firmly establish the family keyworker model developed through programmes like Supporting Families as a mainstream profession alongside social work, backed by support to strengthen practice across both professions.”