Family Wellbeing Partnership in Clackmannanshire: evaluation - summary report

Summary of key findings

Below, key findings from the evaluation are summarised in relation to: (a) the impact of the FWP on the wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities in Clackmannanshire; (b) the impact of the FWP on service design and delivery; and (c) lessons from the FWP for future policy development.

(a) To what extent has the FWP improved individual, family and community wellbeing?

Data gathered for this evaluation suggests the FWP is making a positive difference to the wellbeing of individuals and families who have engaged with FWP services. Stakeholders and families interviewed or surveyed reported a range of positive impacts among families receiving support from the FWP. Impacts included reduced social isolation, increased confidence when engaging with services, improved wellbeing and capabilities, and increased engagement with employment, education or training opportunities.

Community Around The School (CATS)

Families reported that CATS helped children, families and individuals improve their confidence, learn new skills, and access training opportunities. In interviews, children and young people who had taken part in values-based leadership activities and other CATS activities told us that they subsequently participated in a wider range of activities and volunteering opportunities.

Child Wellbeing Partnership (CWP)

The CWP helped parents access childcare thereby reducing costs and financial anxiety. It also provided a safe space for children to develop social skills and confidence. In interviews, families told us that the reduced cost of childcare had improved their financial stability. This had a positive secondary effect of allowing some parents and in particular, mothers, to seek and retain employment where previously this would not have been possible due to childcare needs.

STRIVE

Through STRIVE, individuals were able to access emergency support. Furthermore, families and stakeholders reported that individuals were able to build their knowledge and resilience following a crisis by accessing support through this multi-disciplinary team.

Enhancing Employability

Families reported that this workstream positively impacted their confidence. There is also evidence of short- and medium-term impacts on the awareness of training and employment opportunities, access to training and work placements, and improved mental health and wellbeing of participants.

The outcome of ‘community wellbeing’ proved challenging to define and measure within this project. Although some individuals who took part in FWP activities reported a notable improvement in their own wellbeing, it is difficult to assess whether this had an impact at the wider community level. Stakeholders reported that more involvement in decision making was one of the positive impacts of the FWP they had observed amongst families/individuals involved. For example, through the Alloa Community Empowerment Group and Child Wellbeing Partnership co-design initiative, attempts were made to involve local service users in the decision making process regarding the design of childcare. Staff acknowledge, however, that more can always be done to ensure families are meaningfully involved in collective decision-making and that this is an ongoing process. People in rural areas who faced transport challenges and those with complex physical needs were highlighted as groups that faced impediments to involvement in decision-making processes, and the FWP has taken steps to ensure that these barriers can be overcome and their involvement in decision-making is facilitated.

In summary, the FWP has created a range of short and medium-term impacts across its many areas of work, particularly in relation to emotional wellbeing, relationships, and access to support. Many individuals involved in FWP activities reported feeling more confident, with increased self-esteem and reduced stress - especially those who had previously struggled to navigate services. For parents and caregivers, being listened to and respected by professionals has fostered a greater sense of agency in making decisions about their own and their family’s wellbeing, with signs that this is having a lasting effect. Over time, this relational approach has also helped to build trust in professionals, particularly where support has been consistent, empathetic, and responsive.

Within families, the FWP has supported improved communication and stronger relationships between parents and children. Many interviewees for this study described a growing sense of family cohesion, especially when dealing with complex challenges alongside trusted practitioners. On a practical level, many individuals reported having experienced better access to services such as housing, benefits, and intensive family support.

It is important to note that these impacts have not been experienced uniformly; interaction with the FWP will be different from one person to the next. Some of those interviewed had only recently begun their involvement with activities at the time of the evaluation. However, among those with longer engagement, there is evidence in the interviews and wider data collected of progress toward personal goals, including returning to education, training, or employment. However, the scale of impact over the longer term is currently unclear, due to the short timeframe of this evaluation and the lack of robust quantitative data.

(b) To what extent has the place-based, person-centred approach of the FWP improved service design and delivery?

Feedback from staff and stakeholders indicates that the FWP has driven a significant shift towards a more integrated, preventative, and multidisciplinary approach to the delivery of services for families at risk of poverty in Clackmannanshire. For instance, the STRIVE workstream implemented a multi-agency approach to crisis prevention and rapid intervention to support people at risk of requiring acute social services support. The workstream brings together staff from different local public services such as police officers, social workers, healthcare providers and education staff, providing coordinated and early support to vulnerable individuals (for example: income maximisation support, housing and tenancy advice, and safety measures for those at risk of domestic abuse).

Data collected also suggests that the FWP’s person-centred approach has enabled staff and partners to form trusting relationships with families in Clackmannanshire. Most of those engaged for the research felt that the FWP has successfully incorporated the voices and needs of local communities into how it operates. It was also felt that the FWP has increased the involvement of local families in decision-making processes relating to the delivery of family services, contributing to the improvement of those services.

In interviews and surveys, FWP partners and stakeholders expressed a sense that the implementation of values based leadership (VBL) amongst staff linked to the FWP helped create a culture of increased communication between services. FWP staff felt they had permission to be more flexible and do things differently. They described a culture of trust, accountability and commitment to bringing about meaningful change amongst FWP partners. However, we were not able in this evaluation to definitively assess the extent to which this way of working had permeated beyond the core FWP services.

The evidence suggests that the FWP has increased collaboration between services and organisations involved in family wellbeing in Clackmannanshire. The FWP’s governance model was seen to be an important factor in enabling this collaboration by prioritising shared accountability across sectors and the inclusion of community voices. However, data sharing across services in relation to families’ support needs has emerged as an area of challenge for the FWP. Although some efforts were made to address both data collection and management gaps, there is still an absence of integrated data systems across sectors, with practitioners often relying on time-intensive, manual data sharing methods. However, stakeholders in STRIVE reported some progress in overcoming such challenges. For example, a data sharing agreement was achieved with key partners such as NHS and Police Scotland, enabling a more enhanced multi-agency group of practitioners to better support families.

Finally, stakeholders reported that the FWP has led to a large and growing number of services in Clackmannanshire adopting person-centred and inclusive approaches to service delivery. Stakeholders described a variety of ways the FWP influenced how their organisation designs or delivers services. This includes the delivery of new kinds of activities and greater tailoring of support to families based on individual needs. Most stakeholders we engaged with felt the FWP has been successful in integrating a person-centred approach to service delivery across its partners. This has resulted in the creation of new governance, commissioning and delivery arrangements. However, a minority expressed the view that not all relevant services had fully embedded a preventative and person-centred approach.

(c) How has the system evolved as a result of the FWP?

Viewing the FWP through a systems lens highlights how it has evolved from being a series of interconnected programme activities to becoming an environment which creates opportunities for interdependent activities across the system. There are several aspects of the FWP model which have helped facilitate this:

• Building trust and relationships with families. An important component of the FWP model has been efforts made to build trust and relationships with families, including through co-design of activities, ongoing feedback loops with local families, and strategic collaborations intended to increase community involvement in decision-making around local projects. The evaluation gathered a range of examples of how particular projects and activities were shaped by family involvement and feedback. Stakeholders and staff observed positive impacts amongst local families as a result of working in a way that is trust-based and responsive to families’ needs.
• System leadership behaviours. System leadership behaviours also emerged as a key factor in guiding change across organisations involved in the FWP. Clackmannanshire Council staff cited their experiences of the Columba 1400 Values Based Leadership Programme as having provided space to reflect on their personal and shared values, and described how they felt encouraged to collaborate and take initiative in their work. They also felt that there remains progress to be made in embedding these behaviours across all wider services relevant to the FWP.
• Reimagining service delivery. The FWP model placed strong emphasis on reimagining service delivery towards more preventative models, aiming to address challenges for individuals and families before they escalate into crises. Feedback gathered from staff and stakeholders indicates that many organisations have increased a focus on prevention and early intervention as a result of their involvement in the FWP.
• Governance. The governance model of the FWP was highlighted as having helped to create an environment of collaboration and shared accountability. Input from the Scottish Government and the Hunter Foundation was felt to have been crucial in enabling the FWP to align national priorities with local needs, with staff also feeling the Scottish Government's collaboration with Clackmannanshire Council staff helped create a supportive and trusting environment in which ideas could be tested.
• Data and Monitoring. Information-sharing and ongoing feedback have been integral to the development of the FWP to date, although difficulties and tensions emerged with regards to the monitoring of longer-term outcomes and a lack of integrated data systems across sectors.
• Additional Factors. Finally, communication and facilitators/barriers to innovation also emerged as important themes in the development of the FWP’s interconnected approach to public service transformation.

(d) What lessons can be learned from the implementation of the FWP model in Clackmannanshire for policy development in Scotland?

We have identified eight factors that have been foundational to the successes of the FWP approach detailed throughout this report, which may be helpful to take into account when learning lessons for elsewhere.

1. Governance

The FWP model demonstrated that the involvement of a range of partners and the encouragement of experimentation and risk-taking has been key to enabling transformative change. The ability to create strong partnerships across different levels of government and across communities, the third and private sectors, and by aligning policy frameworks around a shared purpose provides a foundation for integrating services, budgets, and outcomes.

2. Long-term Funding

Ensuring the long-term sustainability of a FWP approach requires stable, long-term funding. It is clear that commitment to stronger relational approaches between central and local government officials, supported by integrated and flexible funding models, is essential for embedding the FWP. Combining funding from diverse sources, including the public, private and third sector, under a unified plan reduces reporting burdens and streamlines efforts. Long-term investment commitments are crucial for sustainable transformation and flexible financial mechanisms (in which funding from different sources can be pooled together in support of FWP aims) enable adaptability. The Clackmannanshire Transformation Space, approved at Council in March 2025, seeks to take the pooled funding approaches trialled already to another level of community involvement.

3. Local context and place-based approaches

The Clackmannanshire FWP approach was designed to meet the needs of local communities and to capitalise on local structures, relationships, and values. This locally tailored approach, involving communities in co-design and delivering relevant services across a range of local community settings, resonated with the individuals and families using FWP services. The FWP’s place-based approach ensured services were not only accessible but also meaningful. This helped lay the foundation for sustained engagement and outcomes that respected families’ autonomy and individuality.

4. Collaborative leadership and multi-disciplinary service delivery

The FWP shows that breaking down silos requires not just structural change but also a shift toward collaborative leadership, driven by shared values and commitments to empower transformative actions and foster collective accountability. The successes of the FWP approach highlight the importance of investing in ways of working that promote collaboration, including the development of shared frameworks for monitoring and evaluation, pooled funding models, and opportunities for joint training. Investment in frontline staff is crucial for improving service delivery long-term.

5. Family engagement

The FWP has shown that engaging communities in ways that are meaningful to them, providing opportunities to have their voice heard and to shape solutions, shifts power dynamics and enables sustainable, meaningful change. To build trust and have lasting impact, this approach must be supported consistently over time. Furthermore, families should be continuously engaged with over time, their stories heard, and their role in developing solutions be encouraged as the challenges they face continue to evolve.

6. Co-design and empowering families to own activities

The FWP model created a cycle of trust and support by empowering workers to engage families through a values-driven, relational approach. By prioritising deep listening and daily meaningful interactions, workers built strong connections that enable them to link families to a network of services tailored to their needs. Feedback in interviews pointed out that, through this way of working, staff felt liberated in their roles, able to exercise their own judgement with freedom to consider ‘how do we make this work for that family?’. This “daisy chain” effect creates a cascading support system, ensuring families access support they may not have previously known was available, while addressing complex, overlapping challenges.

The FWP also shows that creating supportive environments in and around school, including opportunities for social and leadership skills development, can help pupils and their families feel valued, motivated, and excited about their educational journey. The model demonstrates how interconnected service delivery strengthens the resilience and stability of services, as reported by FWP stakeholders.

7. Communication and shared vision

In interviews with FWP stakeholders, effective communication was reported as key to the successes of the FWP approach, with storytelling used as a tool to share progress, inspire hope, and sustain momentum across partners, practitioners and service user communities. Highlighting tangible successes helps maintain engagement and drive collective efforts toward shared goals, rather than feeling overwhelmed by challenges. Stakeholders further reported that a robust communication strategy that shares stories in real-time not only engages stakeholders but also sustains energy and optimism across the system. A clear vision, paired with executional flexibility, ensures the ability to address challenges dynamically.

8. Data collection and management

While statutory data collection is an important part of any council’s overall planning and performance function, it is not sufficient on its own to support adaptive learning and continuous improvement of innovative policy approaches like the FWP. A key lesson from the FWP is that purposeful data and evaluation efforts must be embedded with the natural planning and performance monitoring cycles. A range of appropriate indicators and user-friendly mixed methods should be employed to ensure that data on the nuanced, individualised nature of impacts is captured in a way that is not experienced as onerous or overly bureaucratic by practitioners.