We respond to a Blueprint for Young Futures hubs
Our CEO welcomes a report outlining how the Government can successfully deliver this early support service for children and young people.
This week, the Fund the Hubs campaign group* has published A Blueprint for Young Futures hubs, which aims to support the Department for Education, the Home Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, No.10, and other government departments in shaping and establishing Young Futures hubs.
There are currently more than 60 early support hubs in England doing vital work to support young people. However, access is unequal across the country. The Government has committed to rolling out Young Futures hubs – a national network of early support centres – with the aim of ensuring more children and young people receive timely mental health and wellbeing support.
The Blueprint outlines key principles for guiding the rollout of the programme, which have been co-produced with young people. This includes building on existing youth support infrastructure, harnessing expertise within local areas and ensuring that young people are involved in every aspect of service design. It also outlines that the hubs should be centred on mental health and wellbeing, catering for young people aged 10-25.
We’re pleased to join 15 organisations to support the Blueprint, which calls for the Government to:
commit to a multi-year funding package for roll out in the upcoming Spending Review
carry out a comprehensive cross government consultation on delivering open access support for children and young people
take a cross departmental approach throughout the programme’s development
develop joint commissioning guidance for local areas on implementation
design a clear and consistent outcomes framework with existing hub providers
set out a workforce development plan to support the roll out
implement a learning and quality practice mechanism to support continuous development
Showing our support, Anna Freud CEO, Professor Eamon McCrory, said:
“This incredibly useful Blueprint should be drawn on by the Government to successfully roll out Young Futures hubs, including through meaningful collaboration with children and young people. Young people are experts in their own lives and mental health services, strategies and policies for them must be developed with them.
“As outlined in our 2024 manifesto, Thinking Differently, we want to see a greater focus on early intervention and prevention to close the gap in children and young people’s mental health. Community assets – like Young Futures hubs – can play a crucial role in this, providing a gateway to a range of local services and support before mental health problems become entrenched.
“Through our work leading the National Centre for Family Hubs, we learnt a great deal about how to provide early support through hub models. This includes developing frameworks to guide hubs nationally, while encouraging flexibility to meet the individual needs of each family and community, including marginalised groups.
“With partners, we’re calling on the Government to ensure Young Futures hubs are centred on mental health and wellbeing and co-created with children and young people. Right now, 1 in 5 children and young people have a probable mental health disorder and intervening where we can best reach them – in their own communities – will drive change.”
Find out more:
Read our Thinking differently manifesto which brings together young voices, scientific insight, research and over 70 years of expertise from Anna Freud to call for an increased focus on early intervention and prevention to close the gap in children and young people’s mental health.
We are also supporting the Future Minds campaign, which is calling for the Government to deliver urgent reform to boost children and young people’s mental health services.
*The Fund the Hubs campaign group includes Centre for Mental Health, the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, Black Thrive Global, YoungMinds, Youth Access, Mind, The Children’s Society and the BACP.
About Anna Freud
Anna Freud is a mental health charity and we’ve been supporting children and young people for over 70 years. We listen to and learn from their diverse voices, and integrate this with learnings from our science and practice to develop and deliver mental health care. This holistic approach has world-changing potential – our training, schools support, networks, partnerships and resources equip those who impact children and young people’s lives with the knowledge and skills to support their mental health.