Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme templates: year 3 analysis - 2024-2025

5. Leadership, workforce and culture

Introduction

This chapter describes the activities funded by WFWF which seek to progress outcomes under the core component of ‘Leadership, workforce and culture.’

Reporting templates provided information on how WFWF activities have helped to embed effective leadership, improve collaboration between CSPPs, the third sector, adult services and the Scottish Government and develop a shared understanding of families’ experiences across the system.

Effective leadership

Some Year 3 WFWF templates highlighted the importance of effective leadership in scaling up holistic whole family support in local areas. In many CSPP areas, senior leadership structures have created the conditions for improved collaboration and multi-agency work between services. For example, senior leaders in both Stirling and Renfrewshire have taken strategic decisions to restructure services to focus on prevention and early help, merging teams and introducing new roles to drive change.

The role of leadership in aligning WFWF activity with other local priorities was noted. North Lanarkshire’s template raised the importance of ‘buy-in’ and commitment from the senior leadership of the council, prioritising Whole Family Support within the council’s programme of work.

“A key success is the commitment from strategic leaders across the Children’s Services Partnership Board and from elected members and Chief Executive of Council evidenced by the prioritisation of Whole Family Support within the council’s Programme of Work.

Family support being aligned to the Children’s Services Plan but also driven by the Council’s programme of work Resilient People has been a key enabler. The result of this has been effective representation from the Council and partnership that has enabled change and success.”

North Lanarkshire Year 3 WFWF Template

Workforce development

The Year 3 WFWF templates highlighted extensive efforts to strengthen the skills and knowledge of the workforce delivering holistic whole family support. Where training needs have been identified, CSPPs have invested in targeted learning and professional development on a range of areas and specialisms, including trauma-informed practice, Non-Violent Resistance^[8], the ‘Signs of Safety’ model, suicide prevention, sleep training and corporate parenting duties. Moray’s template described using a needs-based approach, aligning training frameworks and priority areas across the children’s workforce:

“The children’s workforce-wide, needs-based training framework is aligning development across the system with priority areas, enhancing staff skills and knowledge.”

Moray Year 3 WFWF Template

Training opportunities are often offered on a multi-agency basis, promoting more holistic whole family support approaches across different services including social work, education, health, and the third sector.

A mix of internal and externally commissioned training resources were discussed. Some CSPPs have introduced dedicated training officers or subgroups to identify training needs and coordinate opportunities for the workforce.

In West Dunbartonshire, a Whole Family Wellbeing Support Officer has delivered a programme of professional learning to embed rights-based approaches across the council workforce. The template confirms that by March 2025, 378 education staff had completed a new UNCRC e-learning module (up from 216 last year) and a further 54 staff from other services had completed a briefing on children’s rights.

Several templates highlighted the importance of monitoring and evaluating their training offering and adapting approaches in response. For example, the neurodevelopmental team in West Dunbartonshire had registered a poor uptake in training by carers and had responded by establishing ‘Cuppa and Connect’ sessions; these sessions have seen a positive uptake in engagement, with increasing numbers of attendees.

Workforce wellbeing

Few templates included activities directly related to staff wellbeing. However, a few CSPPs described having put in place measures to ensure staff wellbeing and foster a positive working culture. For example, Edinburgh has offered reflective practice opportunities where staff can debrief and learn from challenging cases in a supportive environment.

South Lanarkshire reported that to sustain staff wellbeing and capacity, 93 reflective group sessions and 71 one-to-one sessions were delivered. The template noted that 82% found the sessions beneficial and 58% said the support helped retain them in their roles.

Co-production and collaborative working

A prominent theme throughout Year 3 templates was a drive towards co-production and collaborative working across organisations. CSPPs shared extensive examples of multi-agency approaches, with partners from children’s services, adult services, health, education, and voluntary organisations jointly planning and delivering interventions. Examples included integrated support hubs with local authority and NHS professionals, throughcare and aftercare services, and commissioned early intervention supports delivered via consortium partnerships.

For example, Angus described how the ‘Synergy Sparks’ programme is reframing competitive funding into a shared, strengths-based model focused on outcomes, sustainability, and meaningful impact.

“The Angus Synergy Spark programme brings together 17 Third Sector organisations with external consultants to co-produce transformational solutions that meet the complex needs of families across Angus. With support from Voluntary Action Angus and Angus Council, this collaborative effort is reframing competitive funding into a shared, strengths-based model focused on outcomes, sustainability, and meaningful impact.

To date, five co-production workshops have been delivered. These have built strong consensus around values, highlighted system challenges, and generated practical ideas for whole-family wellbeing interventions.”

Angus Year 3 WFWF Template

Another example is how South Lanarkshire’s CSPP has helped to bridge gaps for care-experienced young people between children’s and adult services through the introduction of Throughcare Nurses. These posts are professionally aligned to the Health and Homeless Team, working closely with the South Lanarkshire Council Throughcare and Aftercare Team and Throughcare hubs. These roles were established to support care-experienced young people with health and wellbeing as they transition to adulthood.

Sharing positive practice

The templates completed by CSPPs included examples of different platforms and networks that have been established to share learning and exchange knowledge among practitioners. Supported by WFWF funded roles, some areas host multi-agency practitioner forums or working groups, such as:

• Fife’s Voluntary Sector Children’s Services Forum, which brings together over 30 providers regularly to discuss good practice and align efforts.
• Perth & Kinross’ Practitioner Network, a forum launched in 2024 for frontline staff across different agencies to exchange learning on family support. Sessions are organised every 2-3 months and provide an opportunity to share good practice on key themes (e.g. financial support, supporting challenging behaviour) and the chance to network with practitioners from other service areas and organisations.

Other areas have hosted conferences or learning events to showcase positive practice and allow staff to learn from each other. Online resources such as dedicated Whole Family Wellbeing websites and e-newsletters have also been used to share positive practice.

“FVA (Fife Voluntary Action, Fife’s third sector interface) launched a dedicated Children, Young People and Families e-bulletin in August 2023. The bulletin continues to receive positive feedback, and it has been essential in making sure that third sector organisations are better informed on a range of issues including policy updates, research, training opportunities, funding as well as opportunities for sharing good practice. The bulletin currently has over 400 subscribers.”

Fife Year 3 WFWF Template

Positive practice example: Edinburgh

This section shares part of a case study on WFWF activity in Edinburgh, based on information from the area’s Year 3 WFWF template and a follow-up interview with staff involved in the local work.

Throughout Year 3 of WFWF, Edinburgh has taken steps to embed the principles of trauma-informed practice across all levels of service delivery.

In 2025, a dedicated trauma coordinator was recruited to Edinburgh’s WFWF team to identify and respond to workforce training needs, upskill practitioners, and help to make services more accessible and responsive to families’ needs. The trauma coordinator has also taken steps to address the challenges involved in systems-level change. For example, the coordinator has helped the WFWF team to identify and address some of the systemic barriers to embedding trauma-informed practice across services.

The WFWF team is now applying a trauma lens to their work, and has developed a “Good Conversations” guide and a Getting It Right for Families input, which have been distributed to different teams. These resources provide guidance on active listening, how to approach families in an accessible way, and how to connect families with the support that they need.

Reflective spaces have also been established for team leaders and senior managers, with the intention of supporting organisational change and addressing systemic barriers to trauma-informed practice. This includes consideration of how processes such as social work investigations can be managed in ways that minimise additional stress for staff and families.

Edinburgh has invested in staff training to build a more trauma-informed and trauma skilled workforce. While initial efforts focused on Level 1 and Level 2 trauma training through NHS Education for Scotland (NES), a need was identified for more advanced, intensive upskilling for practitioners working with families with complex needs. As a result, enhanced trauma training was rolled out to these practitioners, with additional, ongoing reflective coaching to support the practical application of trauma-informed approaches in day-to-day delivery.

“We are mostly focusing on the skilled and supported workforce so that we can get it cascaded as far as we possibly can… we want everybody to feel as though they can come in, they're welcome, that the parents feel safe, the children feel safe and then they can access services. Essentially it's to make sure the parents can feel stable and supported so in turn they can do that for their children.” – Practitioner involved in WFWF activity

Annex 1 contains a detailed case study about how Edinburgh is utilising WFWF to embed the principles of trauma-informed practice across all levels of service delivery.