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A Better Start Southend
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Are you an ABSS family?
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af Afrikaanssq Albanianam Amharicar Arabichy Armenianaz Azerbaijanieu Basquebe Belarusianbn Bengalibs Bosnianbg Bulgarianca Catalanceb Cebuanony Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)co Corsicanhr Croatiancs Czechda Danishnl Dutchen Englisheo Esperantoet Estoniantl Filipinofi Finnishfr Frenchfy Frisiangl Galicianka Georgiande Germanel Greekgu Gujaratiht Haitian Creoleha Hausahaw Hawaiianiw Hebrewhi Hindihmn Hmonghu Hungarianis Icelandicig Igboid Indonesianga Irishit Italianja Japanesejw Javanesekn Kannadakk Kazakhkm Khmerko Koreanku Kurdish (Kurmanji)ky Kyrgyzlo Laola Latinlv Latvianlt Lithuanianlb Luxembourgishmk Macedonianmg Malagasyms Malayml Malayalammt Maltesemi Maorimr Marathimn Mongolianmy Myanmar (Burmese)ne Nepalino Norwegianps Pashtofa Persianpl Polishpt Portuguesepa Punjabiro Romanianru Russiansm Samoangd Scottish Gaelicsr Serbianst Sesothosn Shonasd Sindhisi Sinhalask Slovaksl Slovenianso Somalies Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilisv Swedishtg Tajikta Tamilte Teluguth Thaitr Turkishuk Ukrainianur Urduuz Uzbekvi Vietnamesecy Welshxh Xhosayi Yiddishyo Yorubazu Zulu
Beyond ABSS

Beyond ABSS

Beyond ABSS: What Next?

A decade of A Better Start Southend: Ten years of supporting families and learning for the future

This page will keep you up to date with the future of services as our funding comes to an end in March 2025.

We’ll update this page with the latest information as we know it. If any of the changes to our projects and services affect you, we’ll get in touch with you directly.

As the funding for the A Better Start Southend (ABSS) programme ends in March 2025, we’re planning for the future of our services.

Some projects may get new funding to carry on in new and different ways. Other projects will come to an end in their current form.

Over the past 10 years, ABSS has delivered services that help families:

  • Improve how they communicate with their littles ones
  • Build social and emotional skills
  • Live healthier lives

We’ve also worked to improve how services are designed and delivered.

Please check back for updates or get in touch by emailing BeyondABSS@eyalliance.org.uk with your questions.

Thank you for your support and patience during this period of change.

Frequently Asked Questions

We understand you may have questions about the changes to the ABSS programme and how these changes might affect you, your family, and our service delivery partners. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions, which will be regularly updated.

Right now, ABSS is working to identify the gaps that would be left behind should services come to an end. That information will then help organisations that make decisions about what services are funded in Southend, to decide what services they fund for the future.

Between now and next year, the ABSS team is working with partners on ideas and plans for the future, including what might change. ABSS will also be capturing the difference the programme has made to families over the last decade as a way of evidencing what services make the greatest difference to the lives of babies, children and families.

At the moment, we don’t have all the answers but we’ll know more soon. We are in regular conversation with organisations such as Southend City Council and local NHS organisations to understand how early years provision will look beyond March 2025.

Right now, ABSS is working to identify the gaps that would be left behind should services come to an end. That information will then help organisations that make decisions about what services are funded in Southend, to decide what services they fund for the future.

Between now and next year, the ABSS team is working with partners on ideas and plans for the future, including what might change. ABSS will also be capturing the difference the programme has made to families over the last decade as a way of evidencing what services make the greatest difference to the lives of babies, children and families.

At the moment, we don’t have all the answers but we’ll know more soon. We are in regular conversation with organisations such as Southend City Council and local NHS organisations to understand how early years provision will look beyond March 2025.

A Better Start Southend will share on our website, information about changes that will impact parents, families and the organisations that deliver our services to make sure they know what this means for them. If there are specific changes to particular services before March 2025, Delivery Partners will get in touch with parents and families that access those services directly.

At the moment, we’re working to plan out what the next steps are for each service. That way we can help families access the same, different or alternative support services.

Each service will have an individual plan for the future, but some are not in place yet. We’ll be having conversations with everyone affected by what happens next, so they can understand what this means for them and what they can do.

As soon as we have confirmed information to share, those affected by changes will be the first to know.

A Better Start Southend was set up through National Lottery Community Fund. This was a charitable grant of over £36 million for a ten-year period only. The grant has helped us to support many important and impactful services across the City.

We’ve also learnt a lot, which will help to improve services in the future.

We are working with services to explore alternative grants and funding opportunities to support all of the ABSS services.

For more information about our projects and their latest updates, please visit our Projects page.

Visit our Projects Page
For more information about our projects and their latest updates, please visit our Projects page.

Beyond ABSS Media Kit

This kit supports the press release: ‘Support for families with babies and young children in Southend is changing’ to help reporters and journalists communicate the end of the A Better Start Southend (ABSS) programme.

 

Images

The following images were taken at a Better Start Southend’s Stories of Impact celebration event on Thursday 5th December and support the press release: “ABSS celebration event highlights learning & impact on supporting local families”  

 

Images

 

A Thank You Message from Nia Thomas, ABSS Director

“A very big thank you to delivery partners for not only providing high quality support services to families, but also for working collaboratively in the effort to secure ongoing funding for service sustainability.

“We know that the funding situation of the public sector is extremely challenging.

“That means we are having to consider delivering services differently and thinking entrepreneurially about securing a long-lasting legacy for our early years’ children and families in Southend”.

For any questions, queries and comments about Beyond ABSS, please direct them to BeyondABSS@eyalliance.org.uk

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