Peterborough's Family Hubs initiative has celebrated its one-year anniversary.
To mark the programme's many achievements over the past 12 months we specially opened one of our hubs to showcase how the facilities have positively impacted on the lives of hundreds of families across Peterborough.
Members of the media, council staff and councillors spent time at Honeyhill Centre in Chadburn, Paston, on Tuesday 8 October getting the chance to speak to staff and families about their hub experiences.
They also saw first-hand how the hub supports families with children aged 0-19 through a variety of activities including ante-natal care and education, parenting and family support, access to financial advice and learning through play sessions.
Cllr Katy Cole, Peterborough City Council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “I’m extremely proud of the Family Hubs scheme, it has achieved a great deal in a relatively short space of time. The initiative is playing a key role in our main aim of improving outcomes for children across Peterborough.
“I would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in the project. By working together, we have created a fantastic service which has already had a positive effect of many people’s lives.”
The Family Hubs initiative is based around enabling families to access help and support for themselves and their children from pregnancy and birth through to adulthood.
Last year Peterborough was awarded £3.2m to initially develop three hubs in the city. Due to the scheme’s success a fourth hub has now been opened at East Children’s Centre in Durham Road.
Since launching, the scheme has achieved a 139 per cent increase in footfall as a result of more services being provided and increased awareness. Staff delivered almost 25,000 face-to-face sessions in 2023-24, an increase of 17.5 per cent on the previous year.
This summer, a programme of free events for families took place at the hubs, which were fully booked within days and provided fun educational activities to hundreds of children.
The uptake of Healthy Start vouchers increased from 25.6 per cent in 2022 to 77 per cent in 2024 as a result of Family Hubs staff checking families’ eligibility and helping them to sign up. This enables families in need to buy vitamins, milk, fruit and other healthy food.
Eighty per cent of mothers who participated in a perinatal mental health support session reported improved mood scores.
A total of 31 organisations deliver support through our Family Hubs, and 434 professionals and volunteers have accessed training via our workforce development programme to help them support families more effectively.
For more information about Family Hubs visit here.