Backed by £500m, the Best Start Family Hubs will offer support to parents, including in areas such as early-years education, health services and mental health support.

Currently, one in four families with children under five cannot access local children's centres or Family Hubs, rising to one in three lower income families.

Sure Start

Family Hubs are modelled on Sure Start, which was launched in 1998 under Labour. According to a recent study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the financial benefits of Sure Start could be twice as high as its costs.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson commented: ‘I saw firsthand how initiatives like Sure Start helped level the playing field in my own community, transforming the lives of children by putting in place family support in the earliest years of life and as part of our Plan for Change, we're building on its legacy for the next generation of children.'

Local government

Cllr Arooj Shah, chair of the Local Government Association's (LGA) Children and Young People Board, welcomed the announcement.

‘Family hubs are an important opportunity for councils and partners to support families and to help them gain access to a range of vital services in their local area,' she said.

‘We want to ensure the expansion sees fully integrated local support for communities. To do this, we need long term, sustainable funding, and local flexibility to ensure services meet local need.'