Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme - EQIA

Key Findings

The policy aims to positively affect any child or young person and their families, irrespective of sex, disability, sexuality, race, religion or belief. The policy aims to provide access to the help they need, where and when they need it, and for as long as they need, free from stigma, in line with the Covid-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group Holistic Family Support: Vision and Blueprint for Change (www.gov.scot). The programme takes a holistic view of the term family – adoptive, biological, foster, kinship, extended, composite and others i.e. settings and homes that have felt like family and that some children and young people may belong to more than one family.

The Programme was established with the purpose of driving the system change required at the local level, principally through existing CSPPs, to deliver family support in line with our National Principles. Recognising the varying circumstances of local areas, the Programme has not sought to mandate a specific delivery model that would be required everywhere. Instead, we have asked CSPPs to assess their current delivery system and consider what the gaps and opportunities were for them in delivering holistic support for families.

The evidence gathered to date from the Year 1 evaluation report and other sources indicate that overall the Programme will have a positive impact on equality issues. The main expected benefits include support for the full range of needs in the family that will be accessible and delivered in a more integrated way, when it is needed, where it is needed and for as long as it is needed. This will be experienced as joined up by the children and adults in the family.

Additionally, at the scoping out phase of this Programme, it was envisaged that impacts for these groups would likely be very limited in year 1, but would potentially increase from year 2 to 4 and in the longer term. Indeed, the year 1 evaluation report and our engagement with partners has told us that transforming the services in a way that sustains positive change over the longer-term is going to take more time. We have also learnt that our partners need further support to deliver this change and embed it for the future. We are responding to these findings, and now have a clearer sense of how to further enable the conditions for change.

The Programme has been designed to ensure we are continually evaluating the outcomes and impacts of the Funding. The Scottish Government understands that there may be unintended consequences of its policies and as part of the monitoring and review of WFWF we will consider any appropriate modifications and mitigations.

The Equality Impact Assessment process we undertook has considered the potential impacts of the WFWF Programme on each of the protected characteristics. We have taken account of the Equality Impact analysis by ensuring the National Principles for Holistic Whole Family Support are taken into account when designing and delivering services.

Based on the evidence gathered as part of the Equality Impact analysis it is expected that there will be a positive impact on equality groups. It is expected that services will provide support to all children, young people and families who need it, when they need it, where they need it and for as long as they need it.

Age

It is expected that there will be a positive impact on all age groups as the funding is to provide support to achieve better outcomes for children, young people and families irrespective of their characteristics and to provide improved life chances. This work will have a positive impact on younger populations (children and young people) as well as the adult family members that support them. This includes grandparents and relatives as well as parents.

Disability

The policy expects that access to family support services is available to any child or young person and their families, irrespective of their characteristics, in line with Covid-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group Holistic Family Support: Vision and Blueprint for Change (www.gov.scot). It is expected that the activities supported by the funding may enhance equity of access to services for disabled people and to contribute to changing attitudes.

Sex

It is expected that the policy will positively affect any child or young person and their families, irrespective of sex, in line with Covid-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group Holistic Family Support: Vision and Blueprint for Change (www.gov.scot). Additionally, our funding criteria for Element 1, encourages CSPPs to use their WFWF allocation to focus initially on supporting those families most in need, as per their local Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. This criteria includes lone parent families. It is envisaged that this work will have a particularly positive impact on women, given that single parent households are more likely to be headed by a woman.

Pregnancy and maternity

The policy expects that access to family support services is available to any child or young person and their families, irrespective of their characteristics, in line with Covid-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group Holistic Family Support: Vision and Blueprint for Change (www.gov.scot). For the purposes of the Programme, and as set out in aforementioned link, ‘family’ is defined in the context of including a young person of 18 years or younger, or up to 25 years if care experienced, who may or may not be resident with the family; it may include families seeking to conceive; and it includes pregnant women who may need support pre-birth.

Gender Reassignment

Although the Programme will have a positive impact on children, young people and their families, it is unlikely that there will be any differential impacts on the basis of gender reassignment.

Sexual Orientation

The Programme aims to positively affect any child or young person and their families by providing flexible and robust support services to every family that needs support where and when they need it, and for as long as they need. That is irrespective of their gender, disability, sexuality, race, religion or belief, in line with Covid-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group Holistic Family Support: Vision and Blueprint for Change (www.gov.scot).

Race

The Programme aims to positively affect any child or young person and their families by providing flexible and robust support services to every family that needs support where and when they need it, and for as long as they need. That is irrespective of their gender, disability, sexuality, race, religion or belief, in line with Covid-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group Holistic Family Support: Vision and Blueprint for Change (www.gov.scot).

Additionally, our funding criteria for Element 1, encourages CSPPs to use their WFWF allocation to focus initially on supporting those families most in need, as per their local Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. This criteria includes minority ethnic families.

Religion or belief

The Programme aims to positively affect any child or young person and their families by providing flexible and robust support services to every family that needs support where and when they need it, and for as long as they need. That is irrespective of their gender, disability, sexuality, race, religion or belief, in line with Covid-19 Children and Families Collective Leadership Group Holistic Family Support: Vision and Blueprint for Change (www.gov.scot).

Poverty

WFWF is expected to contribute to addressing the challenges of child poverty by ensuring that families can access the help they need for as long as they need it, in recognition that support for broader family wellbeing is an important driver in helping families in poverty or at risk of poverty.

The Element 1 funding to CSPPs was allocated using methodology which recognises the particular challenges of low-income families. The second weighted component (the number of children in low-income families and the number of children in receipt of SCP) aims to reflect the clear evidence that links child poverty with experience of the care system. The final weighted component (multiple deprivation, the number of children in low-income families in the top 20% most deprived data zones and the number of children in receipt of the SCP in the top 20% most deprived data zones 5%) reflects the specific challenges arising in supporting families in areas of multiple deprivation.

Additionally, our funding criteria for Element 1, encourages CSPPs to use their WFWF allocation to focus initially on supporting those families most in need, as per their local Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. This criteria includes Lone parent families, the large majority of which are headed by women; Families which include a disabled adult or child; Larger families; Minority ethnic families; Families with a child under one year old; Families where the mother is under 25 years of age. It is envisaged that this work will have particularly positive impact on those families who are socio-economically disadvantaged.