News: Funding to help transform family support

Local authorities are to receive £32 million in Whole Family Wellbeing Funding over the next year (2022-23). The funding will help build services that focus on prevention and early intervention, ensuring families get the support they need to overcome challenges before they reach crisis point.

Keeping the promise

The Whole Family Wellbeing Fund was announced in September 2021 as part of the Programme for Government 2021-22. It commits to investing £500 million over the course of the Parliament to help support families to stay together, with £50m earmarked for 2022-23.

The Fund aims to significantly reduce the number of children and young people in care by 2030 and will provide support on a range of issues, including child and adolescent mental health, child poverty, drug and alcohol misuse and educational attainment.

It forms part of the Scottish Government’s Keeping the Promise implementation plan, responding to the report from the Independent Care Review that called for a “radical overhaul” of Scotland’s care system.

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said:

“It is essential that we provide the right kind of support to enable families to thrive so that, ultimately, fewer children and young people go into care.

“Whole Family Wellbeing Funding aims to transform the way support is delivered by ensuring families can access seamless support that meets their individual needs.

“The £50 million committed in 2022-23 will focus on building the capacity for further investment from 2023-24 onwards. This funding is a critical part of how we will keep the Promise by helping families access the support they need, where and when they need it.

Ms Somerville also outlined the ambition that from 2030, at least 5% of all community-based health and social care spending will be invested in preventative whole family support measures.

Spending decisions

Decisions on how to use the £32 million allocated to local authorities will be made by Children’s Services Planning Partnerships.

Arrangements for distributing the remaining £12 million are still being finalised.

'When supporting families, we need to be prepared to deliver on our promises' - SallyAnn Kelly, Chief Executive of Aberlour, responded to the announcement of the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund in Issue 1 of Insight magazine.
Click here to find out how to read her comment piece in full