Programme Management Office
The Programme Management Office (PMO) operates in the following sub-teams: Business Support (including Creche and Parent, Family and Community Hub Co-ordinators), Project Management, Communications and Marketing, and Research and Evaluation, and the leads for these teams, together with the Director and Assistant Director, make up the Senior Programme Team. The PMO team continues to provide excellent support for the ABSS Programme.

Programme Activity
The ABSS commissioned Delivery Partners have continued to offer a blended approach to service delivery as the lockdown restrictions have eased. Delivery Partners are gradually increasing their face-to-face provision whilst being mindful of concerns parents have around groups mixing and social distancing. The majority of Delivery Partners will continue with some virtual delivery as this offers a more inclusive and accessible approach for families, and this also gives consideration to the flexibility of services for father’s attendance (e.g. via evening delivery).

HENRY Healthy Families have commenced delivery of their first face-to-face group session since the easing of lockdown restrictions. This is being well received with both parents and facilitators feeling safe and comfortable. A further four on-line sessions are being delivered. Referrals to HENRY Preparation for Parenthood have increased since the information sharing agreement with Maternity Services was formalised. There are currently three online courses in delivery and two families receiving 1 to 1 support. The first face-to-face group is planned for June 2021.

The Bump to Breast Support Group is offering face-to-face support in small groups and booked 1 to 1 sessions. Their online presence continues to expand with live streams and ante-natal sessions which are run in conjunction with the 1 to 1 Breastfeeding Support service. ABSS is working with Maternity Services to look at extending the 1 to 1 Breastfeeding Support offer across the whole ABSS area.

The Volunteer Home Visiting programme is gradually returning to face-to-face support, seeing families in mainly outside spaces. Analysis of their data has identified that every family they supported last quarter lived in one of the 30% most deprived areas.

The Parent, Family and Community Hub situated within the SAVS building has opened to the public, aligned to COVID safe restrictions. A range of small group and one to one sessions are being facilitated to support parents, and Delivery Partners are making plans to use the space as lockdown eases.

The Talking Transitions initiative has moved into a second phase, working with a range of new settings with the intention of improving the transition experience of children and families from their Early Years Settings into school.

There are a number of projects in the mobilisation phase, including the 3-4 Month Contact, Infant Feeding Specialist Lead and Specialist Public Health Midwife.

As a direct response to the increasing need for help with family’s mental health during the pandemic, ABSS are commissioning two specific projects: ‘Families Growing Together’ and the Early Years IDVA project.

The ‘Families Growing Together’ project is provided by Trust Links, a local charity that supports mental health and wellbeing through horticultural projects. The project will provide families access to two purpose-built gardens offering them a range of horticultural opportunities in a nurturing and safe space with staff and volunteers trained in mental health and wellbeing.

The Early Years Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) project will provide direct support to families with young children experiencing domestic abuse in a range of family friendly settings. In addition, they will raise awareness and provide training on domestic abuse to a range of staff who work with families with young children (e.g. Children Centre staff, YourFamily and ABSS Parent, Family and Community Hub staff and GP’s).

The remaining ABSS projects continue to provide a blended and adaptable model of service delivery that are responsive to the needs of local families and the COVID-19 roadmap.
YourFamily

Recruitment of staffing for YourFamily is underway with a number of appointments having been made.

ABSS has commissioned Chris Barraclough Consulting, an experienced copywriter and creative consultant, to create the branding and messaging for YourFamily. An Assurance Group of parents, SBC staff and the YourFamily team has been established to support this work. Insight to inform the branding and messaging was provided by three focus groups of local parents. Parents said they were seeking ways to connect with other families, to learn more about what Southend has to offer them and access to expert and informed advice as part of the model. They were very positive about the plans for YourFamily which they saw as meeting a gap. Further testing is taking place through an online survey and it is hoped that the branding toolkit will be published by the end of this month.

ABSS appointed consultants HartSquare to gather the requirements of a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, record management and digital offer for YourFamily, both for ABSS and for SBC children’s services. Their report was published last week and recommends developing a solution using a proprietorial system in the short and medium term. Ultimately, ABSS will be seeking a system that is fully aligned with that of other SBC systems in late 2022.

Training is being considered for the YourFamily team, Health Visiting team and Family Action team which will support integrated working and will ensure families accessing help will receive shared and consistent messages in relation to the help and support on offer.

Through further co-production, the ABSS baby box has developed into a rucksack for parents, which will include a few essential items for their baby. The collection of the bag will be one of the first contact points families will have with the YourFamily team and will provide an opportunity for sharing of information. The baby bag scoping paper will be presented at the Programme Group on 7th June 2021.

Staffing
ABSS enjoys a stable workforce and it is therefore unusual that this month saw the departure of three team members. We wish Programme Manager, Wendy Bailey, Project Manager, Charlotte Graham and Contracts and Compliance Lead, Omolade Oshunremi, well in their future endeavours and thank them for their significant contribution to the Programme over recent years.

Recruitment is underway and going well for these vacancies, and also for a Digital Marketing Apprentice to support the various social media platforms used to share ABSS messaging. An interim Project Support Officer, Arifa Shakeel, joined the team to cover an ongoing maternity absence, and we welcomed the return of Sam Tower from maternity leave to the Creche Team as the creches are beginning to support more activities as COVID restrictions ease.

Assistant Director, Stephanie Farr, will be reducing her working hours to 9 hours per week from August, and will be focussing on leadership of the YourFamily Programme and associated areas of work. Options are being explored regarding ABSS’s requirements for senior leadership moving forwards.

Recruitment continues to take place for YourFamily, with progress made on a number of roles. The YourFamily Worker interviews will be held on 8th June 2021 and the paid peer support posts, known as Your Family Connectors, are currently live with a closing date of 20th June 2021. ABSS has successfully recruited a YourFamily Team Manager who will commence the post in early August 2021, an Administrator who will start in June 2021 and two YourFamily Workers who will be in post in July and September 2021.