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

7. Progress towards recommendations in Year 2 WFWF evaluation report

Introduction

An independent process and impact evaluation of Year 2 of the WFWF Programme was commissioned in 2023. The evaluation explored how CSPPs used their WFWF allocation in Year 2 and the extent of achievement of outcomes related to the four core components of WFWF.

The evaluation report also identified learning to inform and enable Scottish Government and CSPPs to make future improvements to WFWF policy and practice. This included a series of recommendations, including considerations around planning for sustainability of activity beyond WFWF and developing a whole systems approach.

As part of Year 3 reporting, CSPPs were asked to reflect on progress made towards the Year 2 recommendations. This chapter provides insight on comments made in Year 3 templates about progress towards the Year 2 recommendations which were relevant for local areas to consider and where areas provided responses^[11].

Capturing and using feedback from children, young people and families

CSPPs described how they are addressing the recommendation to ‘continue to establish systems for capturing regular feedback from children, young people and families, and engaging in ongoing consultation with partners across the CSPP to use this feedback to inform transformative family support’. Many areas are now embedding systems for routine feedback collection as part of service delivery or through new governance structures such as Promise Boards.

For example, Falkirk described a range of engagement with care experienced children, young people and families. Throughout Year 3, Falkirk has supported the development of multiple participatory groups involving children, young people and families, including Get to Focus, a parent‑led group of adults with lived experience of child protection processes and the Falkirk Champs, a participatory group made up of children and young people with care experience. These groups have contributed meaningfully to service improvement activity across Falkirk, such as work to help shape a new Social Work charter and strategy, co‑designing guidance for Family Directed Support, providing insight into improving housing options for young people moving on from care, and helping to enhance the experience of health assessments for looked‑after young people. They also shared their lived experience through creative projects, such as producing a video for education staff to strengthen understanding of the needs and perspectives of care‑experienced young people.

Moray detailed how engaging with families and gathering feedback had resulted in the development of their parent-focused service:

“The parent-focused service was developed in response to families seeking a better understanding of how their children are supported. It provides a safe, non-judgemental space for parents to explore personal and family wellbeing, access information on child and adolescent issues, and receive support across a range of needs. Recognised as good practice and now commissioned in other areas, the service is designed with flexibility, allowing it to adapt to families’ evolving circumstances. For example, it has recently supported parents directly in cases involving contextual safeguarding concerns.”

Moray Year 3 WFWF Template

Increased analytical capacity

Templates also contained evidence of increased analytical capacity within CSPPs. Some areas have introduced designated analyst roles which support identification of trends in demand for family support, resource targeting and impact. For example, South Ayrshire reported that a specific Data and Development Assistant has been assigned to support their self-evaluation framework, and as part of their role they align qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate the impact of change work happening, family feedback and practitioner context.

More broadly, some templates contained reflections on the impact of developing and improving local datasets, allowing self-evaluation and monitoring to plan strategically and to understand where improvement may be required.

However, a few templates highlighted that further work is needed in this area; for example, North Lanarkshire noted that “an area which requires investment is developing analytical capacity to interpret and showcase the data”.

Sustainability

Some templates included discussion of progress towards the Year 2 recommendation of making the programme of WFWF delivery sustainable and securing the future of the programme. For some CSPPs, this has involved embedding WFWF activities into children’s services and existing budgets, or finding external funding. For example, Dundee noted that some of their WFWF initiatives, such as the development of volunteer and advocacy strategies and the development of a co-located, multi-disciplinary hub are self-sustaining. Further, Stirling’s template noted that permanent funding has been found for a Family Support Worker role introduced through WFWF; due to the impact of the role, Stirling Inclusion Support Service has reorganised their budget to make the position permanent.

A few templates also described the consideration of sustainability within their training outputs. East Dunbartonshire highlighted their approach to ensuring sustainability of activities where WFWF has been funding staffing, using a ‘train the trainer’ model:

“The training subgroup has considered future sustainability by implementing professional learning community and train the trainer approaches so that the level of skills is maintained within the local authority.”

East Dunbartonshire Year 3 WFWF Template

A few CSPPs recognised the challenges involved in securing financial sustainability and noted that considerations around this recommendation are still ongoing.

Improving case management systems

In relation to the recommendation to ‘consider how to improve the functionality and alignment of different case management systems across the CSPP’, several areas have been aligning or upgrading referral and case management systems, as mentioned in the ‘Availability and Access’ and ‘Whole System Approach’ chapters of this report.

In some areas, work is ongoing to improve digital case management systems, including digital transformation proposals and the rollout or implementation of the FORT case management system across wider organisations and settings. Others highlighted that progress towards this recommendation has been made through the use of a Single Point of Access, which streamlines referral processes across agencies.

Developing a Whole Systems Approach

As noted in Chapter 4, analysis of Year 3 templates indicated improvements in the provision of holistic multi-agency family support across areas, with CSPPs reporting increased prevalence of joint working between councils, health colleagues, third sector partners, adult services and specialist teams. In some areas, work is underway to develop shared family support models across services, align procurement processes, and deliver data mapping exercises to support whole system change.