Best Start Family Hubs will act as a one stop shop for the whole community – offering parents a range of support, including a menu of proven interventions, from child-focused speech and language sessions for toddlers to specialist parent and baby groups. 

The new offer will help parents understand their child's development, identify emerging needs sooner, and support vital join-up between early years settings, health visitors and SEND teams.

Professionals will step in early with practical advice so parents can manage everyday challenges before they escalate or become medicalised, and families will be connected quickly to further support if they need it.

As part of the government's pledge to roll out Best Start Hubs in every local authority next year, councils are being tasked with recruiting an all-new dedicated SEND practitioner in every hub to provide direct, family-facing support.

To access their share of the £500m Best Start Family Hub investment, every local authority must prioritise the neighbourhoods where families face the greatest barriers to support, with an ambition for 70% of all hubs to be located in the 30% most disadvantaged communities.

Education secretary, Bridget Philipson, said: ‘Nowhere is that support more important than for families of children with SEND, where early, expert help can make all the difference not only for parents, but for children's life chances.

‘And now, local councils will need to work with us to put Best Start Family Hubs in the heart of communities, in service of the families who need them most, and on the frontline of our battle to break the link between background, and success.'

In response, Cllr Amanda Hopgood, children, young people and families committee chair at the Local Government Association, said: ‘It is essential that any requirement on councils to recruit practitioners is fully funded, and that there is sufficient capacity within the workforce that addresses the skills shortage in the SEND system.'

She added: ‘It is right and important that children and families have access to support for SEND in the areas they live, and we support measures that work towards that provision.

‘Councils and providers have been consistently reporting an increase in volume and complexity of needs in the early years, which has already required extra support to be put in place in some settings.'