Seven new centres will bring services for children and families closer to commu

Children and families across the county will find it easier and quicker to access services as seven new hubs are to be built over the next 12 months.  The hubs will help different organisations and services work together better.

Last year Herefordshire Council successfully bid for £2.4 million to develop new multi-agency centres across the county.  The centres, known as hubs, will be a welcome addition to existing community facilities such as schools, children’s centres and youth centres.  They will help teams who work with children and parents to have a local base within the area they support.

Under the new scheme, a school improvement officer working with schools in the north of the county could share desk and office space with a social worker, community police officer or student counsellor from a location in Leominster, possibly also a youth worker, special needs co-ordinator and health visitor too.  Sharing office space helps people work together better, which will make things easier for families needing extra support.

The location of the hubs has been agreed after detailed research into where families prefer to access services.  A project undertaken by Herefordshire’s Children’s Trust - known as No Wrong Door - has been going on since last summer to design the detail of how the hubs will work.  Some council and primary care trust staff are likely to be redeployed so that each centre has a core team of people based there.  Each hub will provide some flexible office space, as well as private interview rooms and a space for group activities or meetings that could be made available for use by the local community.

Using a combination of refurbishments and extensions, it is planned to develop a hub in Bromyard, Leominster, Kington, Ledbury and Ross-on-Wye as well as two further hubs in Hereford. Staff from different agencies will be able to ‘hot desk’ from the new hubs, which will mean that they have to spend less time and money travelling. The new hubs will also make a big contribution to the council’s accommodation strategy and mean a reduction in the use of more expensive and less flexible offices elsewhere.

“Like all other authorities in the country, we are having to change the way we work with children and families in Herefordshire,” said Sharon Menghini, chair of the Herefordshire Children’s Trust and director of Herefordshire Council’s children’s services. 

She continued: “Children’s Trusts are strategic partnerships consisting of representatives from agencies and organisations who work with children and families. We think it is important to provide as many services as we can locally for children and families to be able to access them more readily.“

“Children and families should only have to tell their story once.  That story should be shared and appropriate support and resources provided, regardless of which organisation is providing it.

“Herefordshire Council is leading on the building of the hubs, but the way they will operate is very much down to the Children’s Trust.  This is why the trust has been consulting with agencies, children and young people over the last 12 months. 

“Now that the location of the hubs has been agreed, we can begin the building programme, plan the way each hub will work and begin delivering excellent services to improve the lives of children and young people now and in the future.”