Foundations announces £900k in grants to drive transformation of children’s services

Foundations (the ‘What Works Centre for Children’s & Families’) has announced £900k in grants to 9 local authority partners, one in each English region to drive evidence use in children’s services.

The 9 partners will each receive £100k to appoint a ‘Local Evidence Lead’ who will work to embed evidence at the heart of practice in children’s services between now and March 2027.

Partners include Leicester City Council, Southend-on-Sea City Council, Northumberland County Council, Stockport Council, Wokingham Borough Council , Wiltshire Council, Bradford Children & Families Trust, London Borough of Enfield, and Telford & Wrekin Council. These will, in due course, exchange learning with neighbouring local authorities in their region, supported by Foundations, the DfE, Local Government Association and Principal Social Worker regional leads. This will strengthen regional capacity to use evidence as the reforms are implemented, ensuring the benefits extend well beyond the nine Partner Places.

Nimal Jude, Head of Practice Development at Foundations, said “We know that evidence-based approaches are the most reliable way to improve outcomes for children and families. Yet the reality is that interventions with the strongest evidence base often aren’t used as widely and some popular approaches haven’t been robustly evaluated for impact. As the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill progresses and new duties around Family Help come into effect, demand for effective, evidence-based services is growing. We will work with our Partner Places to show that rigorous evidence use, and responsive local delivery aren’t competing priorities – they are two sides of the same coin. “