Emerging findings from the Families First for Children Pathfinder evaluation

Challenge

The Families First for Children (FFC) Pathfinder was introduced in February 2023 as part of the then-government’s children’s social care strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love. It was created in response to findings from several major reviews, namely the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care (2022) and the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s report on child protection in England: National review into the murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson (2022).

The Pathfinder was designed to test key recommendations from these reviews. Specifically, to shift focus towards earlier multi-disciplinary help through Family Help, more expert, timely and decisive multi-agency child protection practice, and greater use of family networks.

From 2023 to 2029, the Department for Education has commissioned a consortium, led by Verian, to evaluate the Families First for Children Pathfinder. Verian is leading the Implementation and Process Evaluation (IPE), with Alma Economics leading the Impact Evaluation and Value for Money Evaluation, and the National Children’s Bureau leading stakeholder engagement to share emerging learning and gather additional insights and feedback on delivery.

Following implementation in ten Pathfinder areas, the UK government announced the national rollout of the Families First Partnership Programme in April 2025, building on the Pathfinder approach. Learning from the Pathfinder evaluation will help inform the rollout and support future implementation across local authorities and their statutory safeguarding partners. 

Approach

Verian’s IPE aims to understand how the Families First for Children Pathfinder is being implemented and what lessons are emerging for the national rollout of the Families First Partnership Programme.

The latest round of qualitative fieldwork was conducted in March 2026 across five case study areas with a small sample of senior leads and families. This involved:

• A proforma survey circulated amongst DfE FFC leads to capture delivery approach details for each area;
• 3-4 senior lead interviews in each area, across local authority and partner agencies police, health and education;
• 3-4 family interviews in each area – interviews with adult members of families working with children’s social care in these case study areas.

Stakeholder engagement led by the National Children’s Bureau runs alongside the IPE, through periodic sessions with central and local government leads to share emerging learning and gather additional insights and feedback on delivery.

The output was a published Department for Education research report: Families first for children pathfinder: phase 2 implementation and process evaluation report

Impact

The evaluation found evidence that key elements of the Pathfinder are becoming increasingly embedded across case study areas. In particular:

• The Family Help Lead Practitioner role (FHLP) was seen to have been embedded more consistently across local authorities, enabling practitioner continuity and improved coordination of multi-disciplinary support for families. However, there was limited evidence of the role being routinely held by practitioners from partner agencies.
• Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) was felt to be offered to families more routinely and at earlier stages in Family Help, driving earlier and stronger support from wider family networks and more active participation of families in developing their care plans.
• More broadly, there is evidence of strengthened multi-agency working in practice, with increased opportunities for earlier and more routine discussion and information sharing between partners.

Families also reported positive experiences of the support they received, particularly in relation to practitioner continuity.

However, implementation remains uneven across areas. There is variation in the maturity and configuration of Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPT), and continued variation in how the Lead Child Protection Practitioner (LCPP) role is implemented in practice.

Overall, the findings suggest that while the direction of travel is positive, continued support will be required to embed multi-agency child protection arrangements consistently across areas, clarify roles and responsibilities within the system, and address wider system constraints that influence the pace and consistency of implementation.