Blackpool Council: Youth work and family hubs

Blackpool Council has developed a unique campus model for delivering integrated services to children, young people, and families. This model is built around three Family Hubs located in the north, central, and south areas of Blackpool. Two of the hubs evolved from former Sure Start children’s centres and all now serve a broader age range (0–19), with co-located services including youth justice, sexual health, work with care leavers, homelessness support, and early help.

The central hub is adjacent to a youth centre, creating a shared space for adolescents and families. The southern hub is co-located within a leisure centre, leveraging community assets like libraries and parks. The north hub used to be a children’s centre and has been revamped to be more attractive to young people. The approach Blackpool has taken emphasises partnership working, community engagement, and asset-based development.

Blackpool faced several interlinked challenges:

• Fragmented services which operated in silos, leading to disconnected support for families.
• Community consultations revealed a gap in services for children beyond early years.
• Some areas experienced high levels of anti-social behaviour (ASB), hospital admissions, and police callouts.
• Limited physical space which was a particular pressure during the redevelopment of youth facilities.
• Short-term funding cycles threatened the sustainability of third-sector partnerships and innovation.
• There were concerns about mixing services for babies and young offenders, requiring a shift in perception and practice.

Blackpool Council adopted a whole-family, campus-based approach to service delivery which was based on consultation with the community and with a focus on ensuring services were accessible and joined up for families. The solution was developed through a multi-partner logic model with plans being piloted initially. 

This included developing co-located services within hubs, fostering collaboration and seamless support across age groups. Blackpool was also able to leverage funding from different streams such as the Youth investment Fund to develop youth services provision at the same time as the Family Hubs were being explored for their delivery. Blackpool has considered how to maximise their space and what works best for the local area, such as through the use of leisure centres and parks, and are now considering libraries and sports facilities to go further. They are also utilising funding from Sports England to refresh sports facilities around the youth centre and include movement focused activities for the family hub eg balance bikes. Waymarked walks etc. 

Services have gone beyond a focus on the early years or youth services and have explored how to support services like youth justice where young people are seen as children first and are connected to the community. This provides seamless support into youth services when young people are stepped down from justice services. 

The council recognised their role as convenors and system leaders and brought together disparate youth service providers into a unified network, including Boys and Girls Clubs and third-sector organisations.

Blackpool have created a shared youth offer map to improve awareness and coordination among services and provide practitioners with the knowledge on where to direct families. 

The youth centre and family hubs in the centre of Blackpool has seen a 21 percent reduction in anti-social behaviour which has been maintained over two years. There are also fewer police call outs and hospital attendances. Professional partnerships have been built up through the sharing of spaces for example police officers sharing cups of tea with youth justice workers

Local people have seen the investment in their communities and there is now greater pride felt in the area. 

Partnerships have been the key. Success stemmed from open communication, shared goals, and mutual respect among council teams and third-sector partners. This did not happen overnight however and benefited from the workforce coming together and delivering to shared outcomes to support the community. 

• Investing in welcoming, multi-use environments helped foster community ownership and engagement.
• Shifting perceptions around youth justice and integrated services required persistent effort and leadership buy-in.
• The pandemic accelerated collaboration and highlighted the importance of adaptable service models.
• Opportunities for joint planning to understand how services can link together (for example, introducing family hub experiences to new parents who are care leavers)
• Long-term funding (including investigating joint funding streams) and strategic planning are essential to maintain momentum and avoid destabilizing progress.
• Co-production and consultation ensured services met real needs and built trust with local residents. Ward councillors have engaged with the local community. Police engagement activity takes place in family hubs as well. 

Simon Morton, Service Manager, youth services, Blackpool Council 

[email protected]