Advice and assistance for parentsA survey of Family Information Services in England and WalesDecember 2011

An estimated 88per cent of localauthorities havecut their budgetsfor familyinformation

Every year many thousands of parentsreceive help finding childcare through theirlocal Family Information Service. As well asanswering parents’ questions about localchildcare provision and sources offinancial help, many Family InformationServices offer much more. Throughchildcare brokerage they give greaterassistance to parents who cannot findsuitable childcare and they help somefamilies apply for grants and other financialsupport such as Tax Credits. Gettinginformation out to disadvantaged sectorsof society is another key role of FamilyInformation Services.

But new Daycare Trust and NAFIS researchshows that spending cuts, as well aschanges to the way that local authoritiesdeliver information, are jeopardising thequality of these crucial services. Anestimated 88 per cent of local authoritieshave cut their budgets for familyinformation and a growing number of themare merging their Family InformationServices into call centres. Thisdevelopment undermines outreach andchildcare brokerage services and putssome local authorities in breach of dutiesin the Childcare Act 2006 and itsaccompanying regulations and statutoryguidance.

A survey of Family Information Services

in England and Wales - December 2011

01

Until the late 1990s parents found it difficult to findaffordable childcare and as a consequence manymothers left the labour market when they hadchildren. In 1998 the National Childcare Strategycommitted the Government to increasing theavailability and affordability of early childhoodeducation and childcare. Over the next six years,the Government increased the level of financialhelp available for childcare, through theintroduction of a childcare element of tax credit.At the same time Government introduced anentitlement to free early education for all three andfour year olds and enabled local authorities to setup Sure Start children’s centres. These children’scentres delivered a range of universal andtargeted services to the under fives and families,often bringing together education, NHS, welfare-to-work service, further education and third sectorservice providers. From 2000 onwards there wasalso a significant expansion of childcare places innurseries, after-school and holiday clubs, withmaintained, voluntary and private sector providersall offering much more childcare.

These developments sat alongside many otherchanges to education and family policy – changeswhich aimed to improve children’s outcomes. Forexample, we saw major changes to the delivery ofyouth work and careers advice, thorough theintroduction of the Connexions advice service for13-19 year olds. We also saw the implementationof an extended schools programme, which aimedto open schools to children, families andcommunities beyond the school day and deliver arange of services including homework clubs,sporting and cultural enrichment activities forchildren, as well as targeted support services forchildren and their parents. The extended schoolprogramme also obliged schools to organisebreakfast and after-school childcare (Departmentfor Education and Skills, 2002).

The overhaul of childcare provision and thedevelopment of new children’s services brought theimportance of information to the attention of policy-makers. If children and their parents are to benefitfrom affordable childcare, play provision and thediverse range of sporting and cultural activitiesavailable locally, families need to know about whatis on offer. Moreover, this information needs to getto all parents, including those with the fewesteducational qualifications, no internet access,limited literacy or fluency in English. Educationlegislation going through Parliament presented theGovernment with the opportunity to address theinformation needs of families. Section 118A (3) ofthe School Standards and Framework Act 1998introduced a childcare information duty for localauthorities in England and Wales.

As a consequence of the 1998 legislation, from1999 onwards a growing number of local authorities– in all parts of the UK – set up Children’sInformation Services which aimed to address thisneed for information. In the areas covered by thefirst Sure Start children’s centres from 1999, theselocal programmes delivered much of thisinformation to families. The work of these firstfamily-focussed information services wasrecognised in Choice for parents: the best start forchildren, the Government’s ten year childcarestrategy, published in 2004.

The development of Family Information Services

“Parents often lack easy access toinformation about what choices areavailable to them as they try to balancework and family life and about whatservices they can access for theirchildren. In disadvantaged areas, SureStart Local Programmes have fulfilledthis role in providing a broad range ofinformation about what childcare andother support for parents is availablelocally”

HM Treasury, 2004

02

The 2004 childcare strategy outlined a commitmentby Government to improve parents’ access toinformation. This pledge became a reality with thepassage of the Childcare Act 2006, which extendedlocal authorities’ existing duties to provideinformation about childcare. This legislation cameinto force in 2008, alongside regulations andstatutory guidance (Department for Children,Schools and Families, 2008; Welsh AssemblyGovernment, 2008).

In England, Section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006obliges local authorities to run a service providinginformation, advice and assistance about childcareand other activities of benefit to parents, childrenand young people up to the age of 20. Section 27of the same Act obliges local authorities in Wales toprovide a similar information service. There arealso regulations attached to Section 12 and Section27 of the Act – The Childcare Act 2006 (Provisionof Information to Parents) (England) Regulations2007 and the Childcare Act 2006 (Provision ofInformation) (Wales) Regulations 2008. Both ofthese statutory instruments provide a detailedoutline of the type of childcare information that localauthorities are required to provide to familiesincluding: contact details and registrationinformation, the cost of childcare, the times it isprovided and its suitability for disabled children.

Both sets of regulations also oblige local authoritiesto provide information about other services forfamilies, children and young people. However,there is a marked divergence in this aspect of theregulations: those applying to English localauthorities only make a very general mention of‘services and facilities’ for families, children andyoung people, whereas the Welsh regulationsspecify in detail the type of information that FamilyInformation Services are obliged to provide,including information about education and familylearning services, health services, youth servicesand play, sports and other recreational facilities.

There is also statutory guidance for localauthorities on the implementation of Section 12and Section 27 of the Childcare Act 2006(Department for Children, Schools and Families,2008; Welsh Assembly Government, 2008). Thestatutory guidance for English local authoritiesmakes Directors of Children’s Services responsiblefor fulfilling the duties outlined in the Childcare Act2006. It requires that local authorities hold andprovide information on registered and non-registered childcare, as well as other services ofrelevance to parents and children. The guidancealso gives much greater detail about the range ofthe latter services than do the regulations attachedto the Childcare Act 2006. The statutory guidancefor English local authorities also obliges them tohold information about the suitability of services forchildren with disabilities or special educationalneeds. In order to build a recognised ‘brand’ theguidance also recommends that Family InformationService is used as the name for the service.

Anticipating that some parents will need extra helpfinding childcare, the statutory guidance for Englishlocal authorities obliges them to provide childcarebrokerage. Although the guidance does not definechildcare brokerage, it gives examples of thisservice. Parents may be helped to widen theirsearch criteria, for example. For some parents,Family Information Services may contact achildcare provider on behalf of the family, forexample to check if provision is suitable for adisabled child.

The guidance for local authorities in Wales doesnot oblige them to provide childcare brokerage(Welsh Assembly Government, 2008). It is alsodifferent from the English guidance in that itprovides a list of minimum standards that all localauthorities must meet, but in most other respectsthe Welsh and English guidance is similar.

Legal duties

03

There are now 172 Family Information Services inEngland and Wales. Two groupings of localauthorities presently deliver their FamilyInformation Services in partnership withneighbouring areas (this practice may increase asa consequence of cuts to local authority budgets).Most Family Information Services were initiallylocated in Children’s Services directorates withinlocal authorities, although a few were based incustomer services directorates within their councils

All Family Information Services provide written andweb-based information on childcare, as well asanswering telephone and email enquiries. ManyFamily Information Services also provide face-to-face help, through outreach sessions or through a‘shop front’ presence (In 2009 some 53 FamilyInformation Services had direct contact with thepublic through a shop front (Department forChildren, Schools and Families, 2009)). FamilyInformation Services also reach parents throughchildren’s centres.

Family Information Services have also pioneeredways of delivering information to hard-to-reachgroups such as working parents and those withlimited literacy or fluency in English. Theseoutreach methods include the use of health visitorsto alert new parents to Family Information Servicesand putting stickers about the service in theparent-held baby development book. Many FamilyInformation Services attend local events andparents’ evenings in primary schools and somevisit supermarkets on Saturday to target workingparents. A number of Family Information Serviceswork closely with Jobcentre Plus or welfare-to-work providers.

As they are new forms of help, Family InformationServices risk having a low brand recognition. TheDepartment for Education’s Childcare and EarlyYears Survey of Parents suggested that 31 percent of parents in the survey had heard of FamilyInformation Services and 13 per cent had usedthem (Department for Education, 2010a).

Only 31% of parentshave heard offamily informationServices...

“I started college and I was missing acouple of days [childcare] and I was ona six week probation and I couldn’t failthat probation. So I had to find anursery - emergency - so basically Iwent on the internet to the FamilyInformation Service and phoned up allthe nurseries that had vacancies, andthat’s how I found the nursery.”

Young mother on a welfare-to-workprogramme, interviewed by DaycareTrust, 2010.

This is a high proportion of parents for a relativelynew service. The same survey suggests that ofthose parents who used them, 84 per cent felt thatFamily Information Services were helpful or veryhelpful.

Family Information Services today

04

Since their inception as Children’s InformationServices, much excellent practice has beendeveloped by today’s Family Information Services.But over the last two years, Daycare Trust hasgrown increasingly concerned that some localauthorities are not fulfilling the obligations outlinedin Section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006 and itsaccompanying statutory guidance. We felt that thetype, quality and quantity of non-childcare relatedinformation held by Family Information Servicesvaried greatly across different English localauthorities. This may be a consequence of theless specific nature of the English regulationsattached to the Childcare Act 2006. We were alsoconcerned that a few local authorities had movedmost of their Family Information Service functioninto call centres and as a consequence were nolonger providing childcare brokerage, as requiredby statutory guidance.

Daycare Trust’s views were corroborated in 2009and 2010 by the publication of two governmentevaluations of Family Information Services(Department for Children, Schools and Families,2009; Department for Education, 2010c). The 2009evaluation indicated that some Family InformationServices did not have the capacity to update theirinformation as frequently as was needed. Theevaluation also highlighted big variations in thequality of outreach to disadvantaged groups, aswell as a lack of clarity about childcare brokerage.The evaluation also highlighted a concern ofDaycare Trust – that there appeared to be lesssatisfaction with the quality of non-childcare relatedadvice and information. Most disturbingly, 41 percent of Family Information Service Managers whoparticipated in the evaluation reported that they didnot think that their local authority was meeting theobligations outlined in the Childcare Act 2006 andthe associated guidance (Department for Children,Schools and Families, 2009). In 2010, this figurewas 31 per cent (Department of Education, 2010c),which although a reduction from 2009, is still high –given that Section 12 of the Childcare Act is a legalobligation.

In mid-2011 Daycare Trust merged with theNational Association of Family Information Services(NAFIS), the membership organisation for FamilyInformation Services. Given the findings of the 2009and 2010 evaluations, as well as reports aboutchanges to Family Information Services as a resultof the local authority funding cuts, we decided tocarry out our own research to map the work carriedout by Family Information Services.

05

Responses were received from 118 FamilyInformation Services in England and Wales,representing 120 local authorities. The overallsurvey response rate was 68 per cent and everyEnglish government region had a response rate inexcess of 60 per cent, as did Wales. However,some local authorities that have previouslyamalgamated their Family Information Servicesinto call centres failed to respond to our survey.This group of local authorities are, therefore,under-represented in our analysis.

We also drew on previous research by DaycareTrust about holiday childcare. The HolidayChildcare Costs Survey is an annual survey sent toall Family Information Services in Britain (DaycareTrust, 2011).

In 2011 we asked about the range of non-childcarecultural and sporting activities to which FamilyInformation Services referred parents. The aim ofthis question was to test the extent to which FamilyInformation Services held information on theseactivities.

Our research has focused on Family InformationServices in England and Wales. We decided not toextend our survey to Scotland, because of thedifferent legislative framework. However, allScottish local authorities run Children’s InformationServices, fulfilling a similar role to FamilyInformation Services in England and Wales. Manyof the trends and issues identified in this report areequally applicable to Scotland and at a later stagewe may undertake similar research in Scotland.

Daycare Trust’s survey

Our research aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of the work undertaken byFamily Information Services across England and Wales. We also wanted to gatherevidence about the impact of spending cuts on Family Information Services. InSeptember 2011 a survey was sent out to every Family Information Service Managerin England and Wales. The survey asked questions about:

The size of the Family Information Service in relation to the numbers of staff itemployed

How the service was placed within the local authority structure How calls reached the Family Information Service The number of enquiries received in a typical month The type of outreach undertaken by the Family Information Service The extent of childcare brokerage services Specific work with families of disabled children Financial and structural changes brought about by local government fundingcuts, as well as the impact of these changes

Perceptions about whether the Family Information Service was meeting theobligations of Section 12 or Section 27 of the Childcare Act 2006.

06

Family Information Services provide a wide rangeof information and advice to families, through awebsite presence and by answering email,telephone and face-to-face enquiries. Overall, oursurvey indicated that Family Information Servicesdealt with an average of 391 enquiries per month,or nearly 20 per working day. This is a little lessthan the number of enquiries indicated in theDepartment for Education’s 2010 evaluation(Department for Education, 2010c). However, thevolume of enquiries varied greatly between FamilyInformation Services, with a range of 30 to 2,000enquiries per month.

About half of all enquiries to Family InformationServices are telephone enquiries, with theremainder email and face-to-face enquiries.However, there were significant numbers of FamilyInformation Services who had little face-to-facecontact with their clients, with 20 per cent ofrespondents stating that they dealt with fewer thanten face-to-face enquiries every month.

Most Family Information Services also monitorwebsite hits and their data shows that they receivea large volume of these every month, with thenumbers of website hits far exceeding telephoneenquiries. In England, many parents who go on totheir local Family Information Service website doso to consult the online Family Services Directory.While some local authorities will continue to updatetheir directories, Daycare Trust is concerned thatfunding cuts and structural changes will mean thatsome of the information held in Family InformationDirectories will not be updated.

Daycare Trust’s Holiday Childcare Costs Survey2011 asked Family Information Services if theyreferred parents and children to local sporting orcultural activities that run over the school holidays.These activities – for example, football coachingsessions, drama clubs, school holiday musiccourses are often used as surrogate forms ofchildcare by working parents.

Many of the best Family Information Services haveincluded these activities in their Family InformationDirectories. While the vast majority of FamilyInformation Services held information about theseactivities, the survey indicated that 5 per cent ofFamily Information Services did not do so.

The 2009 evaluation of Family InformationServices indicated that many parents valuechildcare brokerage – extra assistance to familieswho have difficulties finding suitable childcare(Department for Children, Schools and Families,2009). As statutory guidance requires English localauthorities to provide childcare brokerage, wedecided to ask Family Information Services aboutthis form of extra support. Figure 1 presents theresults with over half (51 per cent) of all FamilyInformation Services offering childcare brokerageto all families that need it.

Overall, our surveyindicated that FamilyInformation Servicesdealt with average of391 enquiries permonth, or nearly 20 perworking day

Findings: Service Provision

07

Just over one-third of local authorities offeredchildcare brokerage to targeted groups of parents.Many local authorities used the statutory guidanceon childcare sufficiency (Department for Children,Schools and Families, 2010) to identify the groupsthat they prioritised for childcare brokerage, ieworking parents, those studying with the intentionof returning to work and parents of disabledchildren. A significant number of local authoritiesprioritised families who were new to the area,families with limited fluency in English and teenageparents. Others were informed by their localconditions in deciding which groups to prioritise, forexample prioritising military families.

Some 12 per cent of local authorities did not offer achildcare brokerage service. These were largelylocal authorities in Wales, where statutory guidancedoes not require a local authority to offer this kindof help. However, we were concerned that fiveEnglish local authorities stated that they were notoffering childcare brokerage, despite this obligationbeing outlined in statutory guidance. All five ofthese local authorities have large populations ofdisadvantaged families and high numbers of peoplewith limited fluency in English – groups who mayneed extra help finding childcare. Daycare Trusturges all English local authorities to provide thisessential service for families.

Source: Daycare Trust Survey of Family Information Services 2011

51.2%34.4%

12.4%

Figure 1: Do you provide childcarebrokerage?

To all parents that need it

To some parents

No

08

Marketing and outreachServices. Our survey indicated that many FamilyInformation Services were engaged in successfuland imaginative work to get to families that mostneed information and advice. Other FamilyInformation Services did not undertake outreachwork themselves; rather this is delivered byoutreach officers based in children’s centres.

Having a shop front in a high street or location visited by a large number of parents. Theevaluation undertaken in 2009 for the Department of Education suggested that over half ofFamily Information Services had a shop front or drop-in facility. Our research suggests thatmany local authorities have recently closed these public access points.

Attending major local events such as county fairs.

Visiting supermarkets on Saturdays to enable contact with working parents.

Visiting primary schools when parents’ evenings are held.

Visiting community organisations to deliver advice.

Joint work with health visitors, with Family Information Service staff attending health visitorclinics and putting stickers about its service in the parent-held baby development book.

Joint work with children’s centre staff. Some Family Information services have staff who arebased in children’s centres or who conduct advice sessions from them. Many FamilyInformation Services also train children’s centre staff to deliver information themselves.

Joint work with Jobcentre Plus. Some Family Information Services run advice sessions inJobcentre Plus offices.

Running training and hosting visits from other organisations that work with children andparents.

Developing a Parent Champions project. Here parents who have an experience of formalchildcare are recruited to engage with other parents and channel them towards tastersessions in nurseries. Parent Champions also direct other parents back to FamilyInformation Services for advice. That parents place greater weight on informal face-to-faceadvice is the observation that underpins the work of Parent Champions. Daycare Trust hasworked with a number of local authorities to set up Parent Champions schemes and iscurrently running a number of pathfinder projects in advance of creating a national network.

Using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to get information to families.

Our survey indicated that Family Information Service marketingand outreach includes:

It is essential that information about childcare andother services for parents and children gets tothose families who need it. To meet this aim,Family Information Services need to marketthemselves as a source of information. They alsoneed to reach out to those sections of society thatmay be least likely to be able to find out aboutservices and sources of support. We decided thatit was important to look at the marketing andoutreach services offered by Family Information

09

We asked Family information Services about therange of marketing and outreach servicesundertaken by their staff (Figure 2). While the vastmajority did undertake a significant amount ofoutreach, or worked in partnership with otherprofessionals who undertook outreach, we wereconcerned to note that five per cent of FamilyInformation Services undertook no outreach at all.We believe that outreach is a core component of ahigh quality Family information Service and mustbe supported.

Daycare Trust’s survey also drew attention toanother development that will affect marketing andoutreach – that some Family Information Servicesare in the process of changing the names of theirservices. We have Family Information Services,Workforce Information Services, Childcare

Information, Children’s Information Services andChildren and Young People’s Information Servicesused as brand names for the Family InformationService function. The move from a single brandname has the potential to be confusing to families.Given that between nine and eleven per cent ofthe population move home every year,1 many ofthem families with young children who move acrosslocal authority boundaries, it is important for FamilyInformation Services to maintain a clear brandidentity.

1 Champion, T. (2005) ‘Population Movement Within the UK’ in Office forNational Statistics (ONS) (ed) Focus on People and Migration, London: ONS

“We offer outreach in all local job centres, produce a quarterly magazine for families andprovide briefings to staff within the council and to partners. We also place adverts inrelevant local publications and have a schedule of press releases. We have a selection ofpromotional items - sometimes developed in partnership with another service, for example,disability services, for a particular customer group. The Family Information Service alsoparticipates in wider events and activities, like a financial inclusion roadshow, or parentingevents. Our outreach activities can change from year to year depending on prioritiesidentified.” Comment from Daycare Trust’s Survey of Family Information Services, 2011

Source: Daycare Trust Survey of Family Information Services, 2011

94.6%

76.1% 71.7%

31.9%

5.3%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

We distributeprinted information

describing ourservice

We run advicesessions in schools

and chidlren'scentres

We run advicesessions incommunity

organisations

We hold open daysand host visits

We do notundertake outreach

and marketing

Figure 2: Marketing and outreachundertaken by Family Information

Services

10

Much research has shown that the parents ofdisabled children find it particularly difficult to findsuitable childcare (Daycare Trust, 2007; KIDS,2011; NatCen, 2005). In recognition of this issue,the Childcare Act 2006 obliges local authorities toconsider the needs of disabled children and theirparents. In England, the Government also fundedthe Disabled Children’s Access to Childcare(DCATCH) initiative. This pilot, running between2008 and 2011 in ten local authorities, aimed toimprove the range and quality of childcare forfamilies of disabled children, and involve families inshaping childcare services. Childcare brokerage –giving advice to parents, providing support tochildcare providers and facilitating dialoguebetween the two – was a core component of

Source: Daycare Trust Survey of Family Information Services, 2011

DCATCH, with some of the participating localauthorities employing specialist information andbrokerage officers within Family InformationServices.

75.9% 75.9% 74.1%

60.3%

40.5%

23.3%18.1%

6.9% 4.3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

We callchildcare

providers onbehalf offamilies

We adviseparents ofdisabledchildrenabout

sources offinance to

pay forchildcare

We provide alist of

settings withexperience

of caring fordisabledchildren

We workwith other

professionalsto advise

them aboutchildcareissues fordisabledchildren

We advisesettingsabout

additionaltraining orfunding forequipment

andadaptions

We takeparents to

visit settings

We have adedicatedworker for

families withdisabledchildren

We arrangechildren's

transport tochildcaresettings

None ofthese

Figure 3: Specific services to parents ofdisabled children

Work with families with disabled children

11

As a consequence of equalities legislation,Childcare Act 2006 obligations and DCATCH,many Family Information Services now target thisgroup of families for specific support, with Figure 3presenting our survey data on the maincomponents of this work. We were surprised that24 per cent of Family Information Services did notgive parents information about sources of financialsupport to pay for childcare. This information, forparents of all children, not just those withdisabilities, is an essential form of help.

Daycare Trust’s survey also highlighted other workundertaken on behalf of disabled children and theirfamilies. Some Family Information Services heldthe local authority Disabled Children Register (it isa duty under the Children Act 1989 for councils tohold a database of children aged up to 18 with adisability). A number of them also arranged shortbreaks and transport for families. Some FamilyInformation Services also held clinics at specialschools and worked with special needs teams inschools and in the local authority.

Some survey respondents indicated that they hadundertaken little targeted work with this group offamilies. For some this was an omission, but for sixFamily Information Services the lack of targetedwork was a consequence of the belief that therewere high levels of inclusivity in childcare andschool settings. One survey respondent stated:

Such views raise broader issues about genericwork versus specialisms within Family InformationServices. There are advantages anddisadvantages of having specialist FamilyInformation Service staff for particular groups offamilies such as those with disabled children. Anadvantage is that the provision of information,advice and brokerage for these families oftenrequires very specific skills and knowledge(Department for Education, 2010a). A majordisadvantage is that generic staff may not take fullresponsibility for updating their own skills andknowledge on support for disabled children andtheir families. It can often be challenging to strikethe balance between generic work andspecialisms.

“We give parents of disabled childrenexactly the same choice of provider asany other parent. We will liaise withproviders, however, we always advisethat the best person to speak to asetting about a child's individual needsis the parent. We actively discouragethe practice of having separateworkers/teams/lists for disabledchildren. Essentially we will tailor apackage of support based on the needof each different family with inclusion atthe forefront of our work.”

12

Previous Government surveys and evaluations ofFamily Information Services highlight high levels ofparental satisfaction, with 84 per cent of users ofFamily Information Services stating they werehelpful in the 2009 Childcare and Early YearsSurvey of Parents (Department for Education,2010a). But customer satisfaction will only bemaintained by setting in place systems to maintainor increase the quality of services. Some localauthorities encourage Family Information Servicesstaff to study for vocational qualifications, forexample Level 3 or Level 4 NVQs in advice andguidance. Having qualified staff seems aparticularly important factor in determining thequality of services to families of disabled children(Natcen, 2005). Many local authorities also worktowards quality standards such as the FamiliesFirst Award, a scheme developed by NAFIS inconjunction with Family Information Servicepractitioners and the Department for Education.Our survey indicated that nearly half (47 per cent)of Family Information Services had received thisaward or were working towards it.

Statutory guidance also provides a marker ofquality as it gives a baseline indicator of theassistance that Family Information Services areexpected to provide. But the 2009 evaluation ofthese services suggested that 41 per cent ofmanagers of Family Information Services inEngland did not believe that their organisation metthe requirements of the legislation and statutoryguidance, although this figure dropped to 31 percent in 2010 (Department for Children, Schoolsand Families, 2009; Department for Education2010). We asked a similar question to themanagers of Family Information Service with 20per cent of them stating that they were not fullycompliant with legislation and guidance and afurther 12 per cent of Family Information Servicesdeclining to answer this question (Figure 4). Manyof those Family Information Services whosemanagers felt that they were not compliant werethose who were not undertaking childcarebrokerage or those that had recently merged alarge component of the Family Information Serviceinto a call centre.

66%

20%

0.50% 1% 12%

Figure 4: FIS Managers perceptionsabout compliance with Childcare Act

2006 information duties

Fully compliant

Partly compliant

Not compliant

Don't know

Declined to answer

Source : Daycare Trust Survey of Family Information Services, 2011

Quality of services

13

Daycare Trust’s survey also looked at staffinglevels within Family Information Services and howthey fitted into council structures. The 2009evaluation of Family Information Services notedthat staff numbers within Family InformationService teams varied considerably – between oneand 23 staff (Department for Children Schoolsand Families, 2009). This evaluation alsosuggested that 45 per cent per cent of FamilyInformation Services employed between six andten staff. The 2010 evaluation from theDepartment for Education indicated that theaverage size of a Family Information Service was6.8 staff (Department for Education, 2010c). It issignificant to note that the 2010 evaluation wasundertaken before some local authorities wererequired to make spending cuts.

Our research clearly shows that FamilyInformation Services are getting smaller inrelation to the number of staff that they employ.

Daycare Trust’s survey indicates that the averagesize of a Family Information Service is now 4.8staff. Moreover 72 per cent of Family InformationServices now employ five staff or fewer (Figure 5).There are now six local authorities whose FamilyInformation Service function is carried out by justone member of staff or fewer. All of these localauthorities covered a significant area and thelargest of them had a population in excess of250,000. All but one of these six had retained adiscrete Family Information Service and notmerged this work into a call centre. While webelieve Family Information Services should not beimmune to cuts when there are so many otherimportant services provided by local authorities,reducing staff numbers so severely underminestheir ability to provide vital services such aschildcare brokerage.

31%

45.0%

15.0%8.0%

36.8% 41.9%

10.3%1.50%

72.0%

19.2%

7.6%1.0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

0-5 staff 5.1 - 10 staff 10.1- 20 staff 20.1 or more

Figure 5: Staff numbers in FamilyInformation Services in 2009 - 2011

2009

2010

2011

Source: Daycare Trust Survey to Family Information Services, 2011; Department for Children, Schoolsand Families, 2009; Department for Education, 2010c

Size and structures

14

We also wanted to monitor changes to the ways inwhich Family Information Services were organised.In 2009 almost all Family Information Serviceswere run as discrete teams located withinChildren’s Services Departments, although a fewhad outsourced this service (Department forChildren, Schools and Families, 2009). Onenorthern local authority delivered its FamilyInformation Service through a call centre at thistime, but had then set up a discrete FamilyInformation Service when officials realised that thelocal authority was not meeting obligations outlinedin legislation and guidance. Today, FamilyInformation Services are undergoing significantstructural changes as a consequence of localauthority spending cuts and by the end of 2010,more local authorities had merged their FamilyInformation Services into call centres. Our surveysuggests by September 2011 at least seven localauthorities, all in England, had merged all of theirFamily Information Service function into a callcentre. However, evidence collected by DaycareTrust and NAFIS suggests that the true figure ishigher than seven when non-respondents to thesurvey are taken into account as we are aware ofother local authorities which have moved to a callcentre model. When anticipated future changes aretaken into account, it is clear that in future a farhigher proportion of Family Information Serviceswill be merged into generic local authority callcentres (Figure 7).

“We have cut one of our outreachofficers….It is hard to see how wewill be able to maintain currentperformance levels, and verydoubtful that our Information dutycompliance would not be adverselyimpacted were we to take further hitsin subsequent rounds of cuts.“

Comment from Daycare Trust’sSurvey of Family InformationServices, 2011)

15

6% 0% 7%21% 25%

32%

24%

80%33%

64%

62%76%

12%

45%

11%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Changes tostaff numbers

Changes tobudget

Changes toopening hours

Changes to thedelivery ofoutreachservices

Changes to thedelivery ofchildcare

brokerage

Figure 6: Recent or planned financialor operational changes

Reduced

Stayed the same

Increased

Local authority funding cuts have forced manychanges to Family Information Services. Theseinclude budget reductions, changes to the range ofservices on offer, staffing changes, as well asstructural changes. Daycare Trust’s survey aimed tomap these changes, as well as analyse the impactsof them on service delivery. Figure 6 presents dataon financial and operational changes to FamilyInformation Services. We found that 76 per cent

of Family Information Services had recent orplanned cuts to their budgets, with someexperiencing very significant reductions, withspending reduced to a third of 2009-2010 budgetsin some local authorities. Some 62 per cent ofFamily Information Services had recent or plannedcuts to staffing. Nearly half (45 per cent) hadreduced their outreach services, although this hasbeen balanced by an increase in outreach in 21 percent of Family Information Services.

The impact of spending cuts

Source: Daycare Trust Survey of Family Information Services, 2011

73%

44%

19% 17%

1%0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

Changes to staffresponsibilities

Merged intoanother children's

services team

Merged into a localauthority call centre

Moved to anotherlocal authority

department

FIS combined withFIS from

neighbouringauthority

Figure 7: Recent and plannedstructural changes to Family

Information Services

16

Family Information Services were asked about theimpact of these changes on their services. Many ofthem highlighted an increase in theirresponsibilities, without extra staff or funding.Some Family Information Services had taken onthe childcare sufficiency duties (another aspect ofthe Childcare Act 2006) or had been tasked withfinding places for those additional two year oldswho will soon qualify for free early education.

A number of Family Information Services havetaken on duties that do not directly relate tochildcare or information for parents and children,for example having to maintain the CommonAssessment Framework database that recordschildren’s additional social, medical or learningneeds. In many cases, these mergers of teamsseemed to be marriages of convenience ratherthan smarter ways of working. Daycare Trustbelieves that where mergers are required,Connexions, Family Information Services and otherinformation-based services for parents, childrenand young people should be brought togetherunder one roof. Such a move has the potential bothto share best practice and to save money.

Some local authorities have moved their FamilyInformation Services into sections of Children’sServices that are implementing the earlyintervention programme of work, targeting the mostdysfunctional families. With this have comechanges in the focus of outreach services, with thefocus moving to the most disadvantaged familiesand away from working parents.

Spending cuts have forced some local authoritiesto review how they deliver outreach services. Insome cases, outreach services have been movedout of Family Information Services and are solelydelivered by staff based in children’s centres. Manylocal authorities have also closed ‘shop front’ publicaccess points. These changes have often beenaccompanied by a re-prioritisation of outreach.Instead of some targeting of working families for

outreach, in many instances the mostdisadvantaged families and areas were now theprimary targets of outreach. Many FamilyInformation Services also stressed their concernsabout reductions to marketing and outreach andthis was one of the most common concernsarticulated in Daycare Trust’s survey.

“The reduction in staff and budget hasparticularly impacted on the volume ofoutreach work undertaken. An agreementwas reached to reduce attendance atchildren's centres, with low priority centresnot necessarily being visited and others lessfrequently. Promotions and marketing hasalso reduced due to funding constraints.The number of staff covering our helplineover lunch has been reduced.”

“The marketing budget has been cut so weare unable to produce new leaflets and othermaterials. We have lost all dedicatedoutreach staff so outreach work has almostcompletely stopped. This makes it muchmore likely that families which could benefitfrom the service will not know about it.Attendance at events has stopped so thereis no informal face-to-face advice beingdelivered.”

Comments from Daycare Trust’s Survey ofFamily Information Services, 2011.

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Perhaps the most significant change highlighted inDaycare Trust’s survey has been the recent orplanned mergers of at least 20 per cent of FamilyInformation Services into generic local authority callcentres. In a few local authorities this processseemed to have been a well-planned process. Insome cases the Family Information Services havebeen actively involved in this change, designing theprocess, drafting scripts and training call centreworkers. At least two local authorities that havemerged the majority of their Family InformationServices into call centres have retained a small‘second tier’ service to deal with more complexenquiries and to provide childcare brokerage.

But in most cases, however, the move of FamilyInformation Services into generic local authority callcentres was met with concerns about the futurequality of the services. In many instances, thesurvey highlighted views that marketing, outreachand childcare brokerage would suffer as aconsequence of this change. Survey respondentswere also concerned that information aboutchildcare providers and other services andactivities would not be updated.

“There is a radically reducedservice due to start at beginningof October. Staff moved to callcentre with reduced functions. Nobrokerage or outreach any moreand databases moved to differentteams.“

“Calls will be redirected throughcall centre, [with a ] heavyemphasis on web basedinformation and 'help yourself'for customers.”

“The Family Information team are basedwithin the LA's call centre, and in ourrecent restructure they have beenreduced to 1.5 staff who are meant to becall taking only. Through negotiationthat team are continuing to administerthe daily Ofsted import and checkinspection reports but they no longerhave a clear responsibility to administerthe childcare database.”

Comments from Daycare Trust’s Surveyof Family Information Services, 2011.

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Daycare Trust is not anti-reform and weacknowledge the need for smarter ways ofworking. In some local authorities, spending cutshave forced better ways of working for FamilyInformation Services, for example merging youthadvice into Family Information Services orrationalising print production, website design andoutreach services. However we have three majorconcerns about the impact of spending cuts onFamily Information Services.

First, we believe that some Family InformationServices have seen such a large reduction in theirbudgets that it is now compromising their ability todeliver a service that conforms to the standardsspecified in statutory guidance. Of course, theseservices are important not just because they aredescribed in guidance, but because they aredesperately needed by parents. Too often,parents are unaware of services to which they areentitled, and are confused by the plethora ofinformation which is now available online, butwhich can be inaccurate and out of date. Inaddition, central government and local authoritiescontinue to invest significant sums of money inchildcare, early education and other services tofamilies. Alongside the development of theseservices over the last decade has been therecognition that the provision of information isessential for ensuring that services are used bythose they are intended for. We believe thatinformation is a central component of ensuringvalue for money in the provision of such services.The Coalition Government has made clear its wishto reduce the amount of statutory guidance thatlocal authorities must follow, and is currentlyconsulting on reducing the length of the guidancefor the childcare sufficiency duties and provision offree early education. We urge the Government notto reduce the statutory guidance in this area as webelieve these survey findings have shown justhow vulnerable these services are to budget cuts,yet how highly valued they are by families. TheGovernment has also highlighted its desire toincrease take up of the free early education

entitlement among disadvantaged families. Arobust information strategy – as described by thestatutory guidance relating to Family InformationServices – is the best way for local authorities tomake the progress that the Government desires.

Second, Daycare Trust is concerned aboutchanges to outreach services away from workingparents and towards the most disadvantaged anddysfunctional families. The motivation that led tothe passage of the Childcare Act 2006 and itsstatutory guidance was to get information aboutchildcare and sources of financial support tofamilies. Low income working parents and thosetrying to return to the labour market were the primetargets for this information drive. Of course, themost disadvantaged and dysfunctional familiesneed information. But they are often very far frombeing ‘job ready’ and usually need a different typeof information and advice that might sometimes bebetter delivered by social workers. Daycare Trustbelieves that working parents, those studying orlooking for work must remain a prime target ofFamily Information Services. This is especiallyimportant in the light of the Government’sambitions to reduce the number of families relyingon benefits in order to promote social mobility andend child poverty. There has been much debaterecently about the model of childcare support inthe new Universal Credit (which will replace taxcredits and benefits from 2013). Daycare Trustwelcomed the commitment of an additional £300mof funding (on top of the existing budget of around£2bn) to extend childcare support to parentsworking fewer than 16 hours per week. Thischange will entitle an additional 80,000 families tosupport, many of whom will not have used formalchildcare before and may not know about sourcesof financial support. Helping this group of parentsfind childcare and apply for financial support is anessential component of the Government’s welfarereform programme and needs to be backed upthrough the provision of high quality informationabout childcare.

Daycare Trust concerns

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Third, Daycare Trust is concerned about themerger of increasing numbers of FamilyInformation Services into local authority callcentres. At least 20 per cent of all FamilyInformation Services have recently made thischange or plan to do so. While a small number oflocal authorities have managed this process well,our research suggests that in most localauthorities the quality of family information willsuffer as a consequence of this move, particularlyif no procedures are put in place to update theinformation that is held. Outreach and marketingare likely to suffer, and information may quicklybecome out of date. Daycare Trust also doubtsthat generic call centre staff will have the skills toprovide high quality information to the families ofdisabled children. The evaluation of the DCATCHinitiative highlighted the need for highly-skilledstaff to work with this group of families (Natcen,2005). We also believe that local authoritiescannot deliver a childcare brokerage servicethrough a call centre, as almost all of them limitthe length of time that a telephone helplineoperator can engage with a parent. Childcarebrokerage requires specialist knowledge and anumber of discussions with parents andsometimes with childcare providers, all of whichmay take a period of time.

Daycare Trust believes that merging FamilyInformation Services into generic call centres is ashort-sighted move and risks undermining highquality provision. We believe that all localauthorities should maintain a distinct informationand advice service targeting parents and children.If local authorities wish to route initial calls througha call centre or rationalise services in other ways,there must be robust measures put in place toundertake outreach, update information, andprovide a second tier service to deal with morecomplex enquiries and provide brokerage.

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Having children brings new parents into contactwith a whole new range of services and activitiesand not every new parent knows about them.Family Information Services exist to bridge thisknowledge gap. They provide essential informationto parents and their children – about findingchildcare and the financial support to pay for it, aswell as a range of other activities and services forfamilies. At their best Family Information Servicescan support parents back in to work and ensurethat more children take up the provision to whichthey are entitled. The roll-out of the free earlyeducation offer for the most deprived two year oldsand changes to childcare support brought about bythe introduction of Universal Credit after 2013 willresult in new information challenges for FamilyInformation Services, who will have to getinformation out to those that will qualify for thesenew initiatives.

Daycare Trust’s survey of Family InformationService has highlighted much good practice. Thebest Family Information Services have pioneeredways of getting information out to parents who, forexample, may not be getting Tax Credit support orknow about childcare vouchers. Many FamilyInformation Services have played an importantrole in improving childcare provision for disabledchildren. We also believe that high qualityinformation, advice and outreach offered by FamilyInformation Services is of broader importance tothe information advice and guidance sector in theUK. Many in the housing and welfare rights advicesectors may have much to learn from the bestFamily Information Services.

Alongside much good practice, our research alsohighlighted some concerns. One in five managersof Family Information Service felt that their localauthorities were not fully compliant withinformation duties outline in the Childcare Act

2006 and its accompanying statutory guidance.There has been a considerable reduction instaffing in most Family Information Services and76 per cent of Family Information Services haveseen their budgets cut. As a consequence, manylocal authorities have reduced or changed thedelivery of their marketing and outreach servicesand essential information may not now be gettingout to the families that need it. Daycare Trust isparticularly concerned about the trend to mergeFamily Information Services into generic localauthority call centres. We believe that the qualityof family information will suffer as a consequenceof this move and it is almost impossible to deliver achildcare brokerage service from a call centre.

Conclusions

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� Local authorities must ensure that they fulfil theinformation duties outlined in the Childcare Act2006 and its accompanying statutory guidance.This is of particular importance for those localauthorities that have merged their Family Infor-mation Services into call centres.

� Central government should play a greater rolein supporting good practice in the delivery offamily information. We would like to see centralgovernment hold to account local authoritiesthat do not fulfil the duties outlined in theChildcare Act 2006 and its accompanyingguidance.

� Ofsted should develop a more detailedschedule for inspecting Family InformationServices when visiting local authorities inEngland.

� The Welsh Government should monitor thequality of Family Information Services in Walesand review the provision of childcare brokeragein Wales.

� Local authorities should maintain a distinct andhigh quality information and advice servicetargeting parents, children and young people,with a clear and unified brand identity. Wheresavings have to be made, Connexions, FamilyInformation Services and other information-based services for parents, children and youngpeople should be brought together under oneroof. Such a move has the potential both toshare best practice and to save money.

Recommendations

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Bibliography

Champion, T. (2005) ‘Population Movement Within the UK’ in Office for National Statistics (ONS) (ed)Focus on People and Migration, London: ONSDaycare Trust (2007) Listening to parents of disabled children about childcare, London: Daycare TrustDaycare Trust (2011) Holiday Childcare Costs Survey, 2011, London: Daycare TrustDepartment for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (2008) Duty to provide information, adviceand Assistance, London: DCSF ibid (2009) Family Information Services: evaluation of services provided, London: DCSF ibid (2010) Securing Sufficient Childcare: Statutory guidance for local authorities in carrying outtheir childcare sufficiency duties, London: DCSFDepartment for Education (DfE) (2010a) Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents 2009, London: ibid (2010b) Disabled Children’s Access to Childcare (DCATCH): a qualitative evaluation, London: DCSF ibid (2010c) Family Information Service Survey 2010: assessment of Family Information Service performance against the information duty in the Childcare Act 2006, London: DfEDepartment for Education and Skills (DfES) (2002) Extended Schools: providing opportunities andservices for all, London, London: DfESHer Majesty’s Treasury (2004) Choice for parents, the best start for children: a ten year strategy forchildcare, London: HMSOKIDS (2011) Are cuts to local authority budgets denying families the right to childcare? London: KIDSwith MencapNational Centre for Social Research (NatCen) (2005) Use of Childcare Among Families with Childrenwho have Special Educational Needs, London: NatCenWelsh Assembly Government (2008) Guidance to local authorities – Childcare Act 2006, Cardiff:Welsh Assembly Government

About Daycare Trust

Set up by a group of parents in 1986, Daycare Trust is the national childcare charity, campaigning forhigh quality, accessible, affordable childcare for all and raising the voices of children, parents andcarers. We provide information to parents and providers, undertake research, campaign on childcareissues and carry out direct work to help parents.

Information and outreach have always been central to our work. Over the last 20 years, Daycare Trusthas worked to develop ways of reaching out to parents who under-utilise childcare and early education,or find it difficult to access financial support for childcare costs. We have developed the ParentChampion model of peer-to-peer outreach and are presently running a Department for Education ParentChampions project that will be extended to 15 local authorities. Earlier in 2011, Daycare Trust mergedwith the National Association of Family Information Services (NAFIS), the charity that supports FamilyInformation Services in Great Britain. One of the core activities of Daycare Trust is running the FamiliesFirst Award, a quality standard for Family Information Services.

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