London Borough of Tower Hamlets — Level 4 Qualification: Working with Children, Individuals and Families

As part of its continued development of a Family Hub approach, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets recognised the importance of investing in workforce development to support consistent, high-quality practice with families.

The borough wanted practitioners to gain a recognised qualification that strengthened whole-family working while aligning with both national policy direction and local service priorities. The aim was not only accreditation, but meaningful professional development that would improve practice immediately.

Our role was to design and deliver a programme that met qualification requirements while embedding practical learning directly into day-to-day work with families and multi-agency partners.

This delivery formed the 9th cohort of Tower Hamlets staff to complete the qualification with us, demonstrating a sustained partnership and commitment to developing the workforce.

The Challenge

Tower Hamlets was further embedding integrated family support services, requiring practitioners to work holistically with entire family systems rather than focusing solely on individual children or presenting issues.

Staff already had strong experience in family support practice. The training therefore provided an opportunity to learn together, strengthen professional confidence and develop a shared approach across services while achieving a recognised qualification.

The programme also needed to align with the borough’s Better Together practice framework, ensuring the training reflected the values, language and expectations already used across services.

Key requirements included:

• Learning that directly supported live casework
• Increased confidence in multi-agency working
• Understanding of changing national and local agendas
• Development of family-led decision-making skills
• Building resilience and independence within families
• Consistency with the Better Together approach to practice

The borough wanted learning that felt relevant and practical — not theoretical — and that could improve outcomes for families immediately.

Our Approach

We enrolled 9 practitioners onto the ATHE Level 4 Qualification in Working with Children, Individuals and Families.

The programme was designed around participants’ real roles. Rather than learning in isolation, learners used current family cases, partnership working and active interventions as part of both their learning and assessment.

Throughout delivery we embedded the Tower Hamlets Better Together practice framework into teaching, discussions and assignments. This ensured the qualification reinforced local practice expectations rather than introducing a separate model of working.

We embedded learning into everyday practice, including:

• family support interventions
• safeguarding practice
• multi-agency collaboration
• engagement with parents and carers

This ensured the qualification strengthened practice throughout the programme, not only after completion.

What We Delivered

The qualification consisted of three core units.

1. Engagement and Communication — Building Effective Relationships

This unit focused on the core foundations of effective family work, including:

• engaging all members of the family
• safe and professional relationship building
• challenge and professional curiosity
• appropriate boundaries
• attachment theory
• understanding family functioning

Practitioners developed greater confidence in managing difficult conversations while maintaining supportive, safe and professional relationships consistent with the Better Together model.

 

2. Assessment, Tools and Planning

This unit provided practical tools to support structured and coordinated family support work, including:

• family support assessment approaches
• collaborative working with multi-agency professionals
• developing SMART family plans
• partnership-based planning
• leading and contributing to Team Around the Family (TAF) meetings
• family-led decision making

Participants strengthened their ability to move from identifying need to implementing clear, coordinated interventions.

3. Supporting Families Towards Independence and Self-Reliance

The final unit focused on achieving sustainable change for families, covering:

• cycles of need and intergenerational patterns
• entrenched and complex needs
• motivation and behaviour change
• resilience-building
• supporting access to education, training and employment

This supported practitioners to move beyond crisis response and toward long-term positive outcomes for families.

The Impact

The programme strengthened both individual practice and organisational readiness for the Family Hub model.

Outcomes included:

• increased practitioner confidence
• stronger engagement with families
• improved multi-agency working
• clearer planning and structured interventions
• greater understanding of system change
• improved focus on family resilience and independence
• reinforced consistency with the Better Together framework

Learners reported feeling better equipped to support families holistically rather than responding to individual issues in isolation.

Result

By aligning the qualification with real casework, local practice standards and organisational priorities, the programme supported workforce development while directly improving service delivery.

Practitioners were able to apply learning immediately in their roles, strengthening family engagement and helping families move toward independence and self-reliance.

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets now benefits from a confident and skilled workforce, with multiple cohorts trained, prepared to deliver consistent, whole-family support within its Family Hub model.