Funding boost for borough's family hubs

Family hubs supporting parents and children in Rotherham will remain open until at least 2029 after new government funding was secured.

The three main hubs - Brookfield, The Place and Maltby Stepping Stones - as well as the wider network will share a provisional £5m, a report to the borough council's Health and Wellbeing Board said.

The hubs offer midwife and health visitor appointments, parenting programmes, infant-feeding and perinatal mental health support, as well as youth groups and employment advice.

Details of how the centres will benefit from the funding will be confirmed in a local delivery plan due by the end of March.

The hubs have been given a provisional £5,052,800 for 2026–29, the council meeting heard.

So far, the programme has seen more than 300 staff complete perinatal mental health training, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Early checks for maternal mental health within eight weeks of birth have risen to almost 87%, the meeting heard, while 51 infant-feeding peer supporters have been trained.

Officials said the next phase would build on this work as part of a national shift towards Best Start Family Hubs, aimed at improving children's development and reducing inequalities in the early years.

The government describes the hubs as a "one-stop shop" for families with children from "pregnancy through the early years and beyond".

It is investing more than £500m to create up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across every local authority in England by 2028.

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