Family Wellbeing Partnership in Clackmannanshire: evaluation

1. Introduction and Background

The Scottish Government commissioned Horizons Research^[1] to undertake an evaluation of the Family Wellbeing Partnership (FWP) in Clackmannanshire. The FWP is a partnership between Clackmannanshire Council, the Scottish Government, the local community of Clackmannanshire, funders and a range of public and third sector stakeholders, that seeks to transform public service delivery and create a community where everyone has the opportunity to flourish.^[2] This transformation aims to address the social determinants of wellbeing by reducing child poverty, improving intergenerational ties, reducing isolation and fostering community across all stages of peoples’ lives.

The FWP is guided by the ‘Flourishing Lives’ model adopted by the Social Innovation Partnership (SIP) – a collaboration between Scottish Government, the Hunter Foundation and social entrepreneurs, aiming to build families’ capabilities and wellbeing. This approach seeks to offer adaptable, relational and person-centred support to individuals and families that strengthens personal wellbeing, addresses short-term needs and supports longer-term aspirations, including readiness for employment, further education and other positive destinations, based on what matters to the individuals and families themselves.

The FWP has four key goals:

• to develop the conditions to enhance people’s wellbeing and capabilities
• to create a community where everyone has the opportunity to flourish
• to make a radical shift towards a preventative and relational model of public services
• to put the voice and agency of the people and communities of Clackmannanshire at the heart of decision-making

1.1 National Policy Context

The FWP aligns with the objectives of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017^[3] which sets ambitious targets for reducing child poverty by 2030. Targets determine that, by 2030, less than 10% of children in Scottish households should be living in relative poverty, less than 5% should be living in absolute poverty, less than 5% should be living in persistent poverty and less than 5% should be living with combined low income and material deprivation.^[4] Since the targets were set, there has been little change in relative and absolute child poverty. As of 2023/24, over 1 in 5 children (22%) were living in relative poverty, just under 1 in 5 (17%) in absolute poverty and over 1 in 12 (9%) in households unable to afford basic necessities^[5]. The most recent data from 2023/24 puts the percentage of children in Clackmannanshire living in poverty after housing costs at 28.5%.^[6] Before housing costs, the most recent data for FYE 2024 indicates a child poverty rate of 20.8% in Clackmannanshire, compared to 16.3% across Scotland as a whole.^[7]

Intersecting social inequalities create distinct social patterns of child poverty, as shown when the figures are broken down by different family types. Families with three or more children in the household are most at risk of living in relative poverty (41%), followed by minority ethnic families (37%), single parent families (36%), families where the youngest child in the house is under the age of one (35%) and families with disabled adults or children (27%).^[8] These six groups have been identified as priority groups, who are most likely to experience poverty, by the Scottish Government.^[9] The most recent data (2025) shows that children in priority groups continue to be more likely to be in relative poverty compared to all children and that this is especially true for households with three or more children.^[10] These groups consistently experience higher rates of relative, absolute, and material deprivation poverty compared to the national average. Care-experienced families have also been categorised as a local priority by the FWP in addition to those groups mentioned above. Many children who experience poverty live in working households and while under 1 in 10 who do not fall into any of these six groups experience poverty, over 1 in 3 who fall into at least one of them do.^[11] There is also significant local variation in child poverty which demonstrates the complex systemic nature of poverty and inequality in Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s first Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, Every Child, Every Chance (2018-2022), provided strategic direction on tackling child poverty, emphasising preventive measures and the integration of services through innovative partnerships like the FWP. The second, and most recent plan to tackle child poverty, Best Start, Bright Futures (2022-2026)^[12] outlines the Scottish Government’s approach for ensuring continued progress is made towards achieving these targets. It sets out an approach for the provision of holistic whole family support, including through strengthening person-centred and place-based approaches to tackle child poverty. This includes a commitment to:

“work with a selection of local authorities to transition to more enabling models of support through Family Wellbeing Partnerships.”^[13]

Through this kind of approach, the Scottish Government and local partners seek to ensure that services operate in a person-centred and seamless way, to encourage and test innovative approaches and learn from and share best practice with regards to bringing about wider system change for child poverty reduction. A core action within the Best Start, Bright Futures plan is to identify a number of innovative ‘pathfinder areas’ through which a new phased approach to whole-systems change to tackle child poverty can be developed through evaluation and learning.

There are three existing local programmes pioneering a place-based and person-centred approach to tackling child poverty, including two Child Poverty Pathfinders^[14] in Dundee and Glasgow and the FWP in Clackmannanshire. The Scottish Government is now working with additional local authority partners to develop more ‘Fairer Futures Partnerships’. In the first stage, five local authorities have committed to new partnerships with the Scottish Government to continue or expand holistic child poverty reduction work from 2024 including: East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Inverclyde, and Aberdeen. Clackmannanshire is supporting these local authorities to develop their practice based on the experiences of the FWP, as well as contributing to a Scottish Government-funded Communities of Practice initiative, delivered through the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit (SPIRU). These partnerships expect to learn from existing place-based collaborations in implementing the principles of ‘no wrong door’, community empowerment and prevention instead of crisis intervention. The overarching aim of these partnerships is to develop an evidence base and policy learning for expanding holistic approaches across Scotland which improve the support provided to families experiencing or at risk of poverty. This evaluation seeks to contribute to that evidence base. These initiatives exist within the wider context of the Scottish Government’s shift towards greater investment and resources allocated to preventative policy measures, as recommended by the Christie Commission in 2011^[15], including the ambition to spend:

“at least 5% of all community-based health and social care spend in preventative whole family support measures” by 2030.”^[16]

At the heart of the FWP is an ambition to achieve systems change in the way services are designed and delivered in Clackmannanshire and to influence broader public sector reform.

1.2 Clackmannanshire FWP Context

Clackmannanshire has the third highest child poverty rate in Scotland with 29.2% of children living in poverty (after housing costs) compared to the Scottish national rate of 24%.^[17] In 2022/23 between 20 and 30 percent of secondary school pupils in Clackmannanshire were eligible for free school meals.^[18] These statistics underline the scale of challenges and opportunities for early intervention in Clackmannanshire. One area in particular is Alloa South and East, home to approximately 4,410 residents (2021 estimate) across a diverse range of households and amongst the most socio-economically challenged in Clackmannanshire, with high levels of deprivation impacting families across multiple dimensions including health, education, and economic stability. Alloa South and East remains the most deprived Clackmannanshire area with four data zones identified within the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIIMD) as amongst the 5% most deprived areas in Scotland.^[19]

The Family Wellbeing Partnership

The FWP is a collaborative initiative in Clackmannanshire established in 2020 with funding from the Social Innovation Partnership (Scottish Government, Hunter Foundation, and social entrepreneurs). It aims to improve family wellbeing, tackle child poverty and shift public service delivery towards a preventative, integrated, person-centred approach. The FWP focuses on empowering local communities and families, supporting longer term goals beyond immediate needs, crisis prevention and promoting system-wide changes to service design and delivery.

The Promise

The FWP way of working – integrated, person-centred, and prevention-focused – has enabled changes in how support is delivered to care-experienced children, young people, and families within Clackmannanshire and thus forms an important part of the local delivery of the Promise – a commitment to care-experienced children that they will grow up loved, safe and respected.^[20] The Promise is a key tenet of the FWP, through strategic planning, service design, and everyday practice across Clackmannanshire.

While the FWP has grown to encompass a wide range of projects, it was initially developed as four workstreams, as set out below. Stakeholders emphasised that in practice these workstreams are highly integrated together, often overlapping and knotting together to form a cohesive, holistic approach to family wellbeing.

Safeguarding Through Rapid Intervention (STRIVE)

A multi-agency crisis-response service involving housing, social work, education, and financial support services. STRIVE works to provide early, preventative supports to individuals and families at risk of crises in relation to issues such as homelessness, domestic abuse and mental health.

Child Wellbeing Partnership (CWP)

Centred around childcare and holistic family support, this workstream integrates local services to help parents/carers and young people, by providing access to affordable childcare, employment assistance, and educational opportunities, such as pathways to learning and skills development, facilitating a return to employment, training or further education for parents.

Community Around The School (CATS)

First trialled at Alloa Academy, and now taken forward in the local authority’s other secondary schools, this approach wraps community assets and services around schools to support young people's wellbeing, social connections, skills development, and employability. It includes mentoring, financial inclusion (for example, by providing advice and support around benefits, grants and income maximisation), breakfast clubs, adult literacy and community events.

Enhancing Employability

Aligning with wellbeing economy principles, this workstream seeks to address multiple barriers - such as childcare and mental health support - simultaneously, with the goal of improving employment prospects. It aims to offer comprehensive, integrated employability support (such as training, childcare, and skills development) tailored to families’ needs.

These interconnected workstreams form the basis of the FWP’s collaborative model of family support services and are the main focus of this evaluation.

1.3 Pre-2020 context

This evaluation focuses on the FWP during the period from 2020 to 2024, but in order to understand its findings, it is important to consider the policy, economic, and social drivers of the FWP, as well as the preliminary and preparatory work undertaken in the preceding years.

Since 2010, Clackmannanshire Council has faced overall funding reductions of circa £100 million.^[21] These budgetary pressures combined with growing needs of the community have created what has been described as a ‘burning platform’ for the local authority. Recognising the direction of travel in 2016, leaders in Clackmannanshire indicated the current service delivery model was unsustainable and that there was a pressing need for radical reform to create new, more effective approaches to service delivery — through early intervention services — to tackle entrenched social issues, such as poverty and inequality.

The initial impetus for the FWP came from the desire of a number of leaders to work more closely with families to build relationships within the local community, to listen to what residents wanted by way of support and then to attempt to build adaptive services in response to those specific needs. The starting point for the FWP was therefore listening to what the community was saying and considering the question, “What will it take to do that?”

A confluence of the right actors at the right time

Significant groundwork for establishing the conditions for the FWP was laid between 2016 to 2020. Key contributions were as follows:

• The Scottish Government provided funding and strategic direction, aligning the FWP with national priorities such as child poverty reduction and the promotion of wellbeing
• The Hunter Foundation acted as a catalytic partner using its venture philanthropy model to support innovation and transformation
• Local leaders, particularly senior council officials and elected councillors, drove the vision and modelled Values Based Leadership (VBL)
• Cross-sector collaboration involving Clackmannanshire Council employability, education, health and justice professionals, along with community representatives, ensured diverse expertise shaped the partnership. Interviewees emphasised how this collective effort helped break silos and test innovative approaches

Columba 1400 and Values Based Leadership (VBL)

From 2018, the FWP initially focused its Values Based Leadership (VBL) activity in education in all three secondary schools and particularly at Alloa Academy, where the entire senior management team attended a series of Columba 1400 VBL programmes.

Columba 1400 aims to empower young people and professionals through VBL activities, helping them build confidence, clarify their purpose, and lead with integrity. Within the FWP, centring Columba 1400 works as a way to foster an empowering environment for change, innovation and shared values among staff and community members. It has helped to establish an enduring relationship between the FWP and Columba 1400. Staff at all three secondary schools in Clackmannanshire have had the opportunity to undertake Columba 1400 programmes with one interviewee describing Columba 1400 as becoming a “welcomed auntie or uncle to the table,” reflecting the trust built. In total, around 250 people from Clackmannanshire including council leaders, managers, practitioners, young people, and families, have now participated in a Columba 1400 VBL programme. The shared space and encouragement of bold collective action have been crucial to the successes of the FWP approach, in the words of one stakeholder interviewee, “Columba 1400's involvement provided the necessary support and confidence for leaders to take bold actions and try new approaches”.^[22]

Role of the Scottish Government and the Social Innovation Partnership

The work of the Social Innovation Partnership (SIP), a collaboration between Scottish Government, the Hunter Foundation and social entrepreneurs, was pivotal to embedding a wellbeing and capabilities approach within local services in Clackmannanshire. According to those interviewed, this partnership and the funding that came with it enabled the FWP to test and implement new methods that prioritised the needs and strengths of families. The SIP's involvement, interviewees noted, contributed to an overall shift towards more preventative and relational models of public service delivery in Clackmannanshire. As one senior leader in Clackmannanshire Council said:

“SIP’s support has been crucial in capturing deep learning over time, allowing the FWP to refine and scale successful initiatives. This iterative process has ensured that the partnership's [FWP] efforts are responsive to the evolving needs of the community.”

The support through SIP also demonstrated how the Scottish Government, as a grant maker, played a distinct role in developing a new way of working. The Scottish Government made significant investments in the FWP in Clackmannanshire: £303,000 was invested in 2022-23 to strengthen the foundation of the FWP by securing a dedicated project management resource; £270,000 was allocated to the FWP in 2023-24 to embed the wellbeing and capabilities approach across key service areas; and £300,000 was allocated to the FWP for 2024/25 to support programme management, investment in Community Connector posts (one aligned to STRIVE) and a community Connections Fund, passported through Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface. This funding has also supported the development of a priority workstream to look at sustainable transport solutions, investment in values based leadership opportunities, the implementation of digital mental health supports, and the provision of experiential and wellbeing opportunities for young people.

Beyond providing financial support, however, the Scottish Government played an important role in creating a collaborative, trusting, and supportive working environment where new approaches could be tested out. According to those interviewed, this was achieved by officials “being at the table” when discussions took place and by maintaining close and supportive working relations. As a partner in the development of the FWP through co-design and strategic collaboration, the Scottish Government gave confidence to Clackmannanshire Council to take more managed risks and experiment with the FWP as a new service delivery model.

According to those interviewed, The Hunter Foundation also acted as a key catalytic partner using its venture philanthropy approach to fill critical gaps, support innovation, and foster the conditions for transformation. Together, these actors created a dynamic ecosystem that enabled the FWP to break through silos, test innovative approaches, and address systemic barriers, thereby paving the way for impactful and sustainable change.