Families First Partnership Programme – update for partners: January 2026
Building on the back of numerous reviews and policy documents, outlining the need for change, central government issued the guidelines in March 2025 for reforms to children’s social care that it requires all local authorities to make. The Families First Partnership Programme is implementing the changes to children’s social care required by the government, transforming family support systems by emphasising early intervention to prevent crises and ensuring that every family can access the right help when needed.
Since the guidelines were issued, we’ve been working in partnership across Hertfordshire to co-design a system which incorporates the changes required of us. In Hertfordshire, this means merging our successful multi-agency working approach across our targeted early help and family safeguarding partnerships, encompassing assessment and specialist adolescent responses.
To strengthen the involvement of partners in the development of the new delivery model, the multi-agency programme team includes Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), who are organisational leads from health, education, children’s social care and police.
The SMEs work collaboratively in the multi-agency programme team. Their role is to co-design local children’s social care and safeguarding arrangements to reflect the national reform requirements, feeding in views, perspectives and ideas in and from their professional communities.
This involves leading communication, engagement and consultation with their own agency colleagues, and contributing to the programme’s decision-making about new models and ways to working which help and protect children. The SMES are:
- Education and Schools – Sharon Coubray, Hertfordshire Education - Coubray@hertfordshire.gov.uk
- Police – DCI Pete Howlett-Bolton, Hertfordshire Constabulary - howlett-bolton@herts.police.uk
- Health – Chris Harvey and Jen Sarsby, Hertfordshire and West Essex (Central East from April 2026) Integrated Care Board - harvey2@nhs.net and jen.sarsby1@nhs.net
- Children’s Social Care – Jennifer Weeks, Hertfordshire County Council’s Children’s Services - Weeks@hertfordshire.gov.uk
As the programme develops, SMEs will be communicating updates across the partnership. However, below is a quick update on the programme’s progress in relation to workforce transformation.
The first phase of the workforce transformation across Hertfordshire County Council’s Children and Families directorate has already been completed. This means merging the successful multi-agency working approach across targeted early help and family safeguarding partnerships, encompassing assessment and specialist adolescent responses.
From Monday 2 February, the leadership team will be in place to enable the delivery of seamless community-based support for families across four geographical areas (North, East, South and West). The next phase of the transformation will take place across 2026, leading to frontline teams operating on a localised basis. The new Heads of Service roles are:
- Jason Beaumont - Head of Children and Families Central Services
- Karen Dorney - Head of Children and Families North
- Raul Butron - Head of Children and Families East
- Caroline Ash / Olga Staicu* - Head of Children and Families South
- Pretty Nkiwane - Head of Children and Families West
*Olga continues to provide Head of Service cover whilst Caroline is seconded to the Head of Families First Partnership Programme role.
If you have any questions about what this means for you, or a specific activity you are involved in, please talk to the colleague who you are currently working with, or your SME, and they’ll be able to advise you of the relevant contact moving forward.
If you are looking to refer a child or family, the process remains the same. Visit the website for contact details and information on the best route to support: Report concerns about a child or request support | Hertfordshire County Council