Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics

(form updated June 2023)

Families First Partnership Programme

If you would like this information in another language or format such as Braille, large print or audio, please contact the Communications Unit on 01609 53 2013 or email communications@northyorks.gov.uk.

Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are public documents.  EIAs accompanying reports going to County Councillors for decisions are published with the committee papers on our website and are available in hard copy at the relevant meeting.  To help people find completed EIAs, we also publish them in our website's Equality and Diversity section.  This will help people to see for themselves how we have paid due regard in order to meet statutory requirements. 

Name of Directorate and Service Area	Children and Young Peoples Service
Lead Officer and contact details	Mel Hutchinson Mel.hutchinson@northyorks.gov.uk
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA
How will you pay due regard? for example, working group, individual officer	FFPP has a Project Group
When did the due regard process start?	April 2026

Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. (for example, are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?)

The Families First Partnership Programme is the Government’s major reform of children’s social care and early help, designed to rebalance the system from crisis intervention towards prevention, early support and family-led solutions. It brings together Early Help and Child in Need services into an integrated Family Help model, strengthens multi-agency child protection through co-located teams, and places greater emphasis on Family Group Decision Making to harness the strengths of family networks. Underpinned by relational practice, evidence-based interventions and stronger partnership working across social care, health, police, education and the voluntary sector, the programme aims to provide the right help at the right time, improve outcomes for children and families, and safely reduce the number of children entering care by supporting more children to remain within their families and communities wherever possible.

These reforms require Children’s Services to realign and deliver the requirements set against the programme.

Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? (for example, to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.)

This proposal is required to enable North Yorkshire Council to implement the nationally mandated Families First Partnership Programme and associated statutory reforms introduced through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 and the Children’s Social Care National Framework. The programme seeks to transform the way support is provided to children and families by shifting the system from reactive, crisis-led intervention towards earlier help, prevention and whole-family support. The Council aims to use the time-limited, ringfenced grant funding to redesign services, increase workforce capacity, strengthen multi-agency working and implement Family Help, Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams and Family Network Support. The intended outcomes are improved experiences and outcomes for children and families, more children remaining safely within their family and community networks, reduced escalation into statutory intervention and care proceedings, and stronger partnerships across health, police, education and the voluntary sector. In the longer term, the authority hopes to create a more effective, sustainable and financially resilient model of service delivery by reducing demand for high-cost statutory interventions and placements, enabling resources to be redirected towards prevention and early intervention.

Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?

The implementation of the Families First Partnership Programme will change the way services are organised and delivered for children, young people and families. Families will experience a more coordinated and integrated approach to support, with earlier intervention, fewer referrals between services, and a stronger focus on whole-family working. Children and families will be supported through a single Family Help approach, with a lead practitioner coordinating support and greater involvement of family networks in decision-making. Families should experience more seamless access to support, clearer pathways through services and increased opportunities to receive help before difficulties escalate into statutory intervention.

For staff, the programme will involve service redesign, the creation of additional multidisciplinary capacity and closer partnership working across social care, health, police, education and the voluntary and community sector. New roles and ways of working will be introduced through Family Help and Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams, supported by shared training, workforce development and common practice frameworks. The additional investment is intended to reduce caseload pressures, increase capacity for direct work with children and families, strengthen relational practice and provide greater access to specialist expertise. Staff will be expected to work more collaboratively across organisational boundaries, with increased emphasis on prevention, family-led solutions and shared accountability for outcomes.

Overall, the changes are intended to improve outcomes for children and families, strengthen family resilience, reduce the need for children to enter care and create a more sustainable, prevention-focused system of support

Section 4. Involvement and consultation (What involvement and consultation has been done regarding the proposal and what are the results? What consultation will be needed and how will it be done?)

The Families First Partnership Programme has been developed following extensive national engagement led by the Department for Education with local authorities, health partners, police, education providers and other safeguarding agencies. National guidance has been informed by learning from the Families First for Children Pathfinder programme and consultation with safeguarding partners regarding the implementation of Family Help, Multi-Agency Child Protection and Family Network reforms.

Locally, North Yorkshire Council has been actively engaged in national, regional and local planning activity to understand the implications of the reforms and prepare for implementation. This has included engagement with Department for Education officials, participation in national Families First events and forums, regional collaboration across Yorkshire and Humber authorities, and discussions with local safeguarding partners regarding future delivery arrangements, workforce implications and service redesign. Existing governance arrangements through the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements (MASA), senior leadership teams and partnership forums will continue to provide oversight and challenge throughout implementation.

Further consultation and engagement will be required as service redesign proposals are developed. This will include engagement with children, young people and families, staff, trade unions, elected members, partner agencies and the voluntary and community sector to ensure that future service arrangements reflect local needs and circumstances. Where proposed changes have workforce implications, consultation will be undertaken in accordance with the Council’s HR policies and procedures. Ongoing engagement and co-production will form a key part of the implementation programme, with feedback used to inform pilot activity, service development and future decision-making.

Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?

The proposal is expected to result in increased investment in the short to medium term, funded through ringfenced Families First Partnership Programme grant funding provided by the Department for Education. The grant provides additional, time-limited funding to support service redesign, workforce expansion, multi-agency integration and the implementation of Family Help, Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams and family network support arrangements. The proposals do not require additional Council revenue funding at this stage, as the planned investment will be funded from the available grant allocation.

In the longer term, the programme is intended to reduce demand for high-cost statutory interventions by increasing early intervention, strengthening family support and reducing the number of children entering care. The expectation is that fewer children will require costly care placements and specialist interventions, enabling resources to be redirected towards preventative services and supporting the future financial sustainability of children's services.

Overall, the proposal should be regarded as an invest-to-transform programme. Whilst it increases expenditure during the period of implementation, this expenditure is funded through dedicated grant resources and is intended to generate longer-term savings and cost avoidance through reduced demand for statutory services, improved placement sufficiency and a reduction in the use of high-cost external placements. A formal review of the financial impact and a longer-term sustainability and exit strategy will be reported in 2027 to ensure that services remain affordable when grant funding reduces and eventually ceases

Section 6. How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics?	No impact	Make things better	Make things worse	Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
Age	x			Services are delivered to all of the protected characteristics as BAU – the new way of working will continue to deliver services to all. The aim is to reduce the numbers of children entering care.
Disability	x			As above
Sex	x			As above
Race	x			As above
Gender reassignment	x			As above
Sexual orientation	x			As above
Religion or belief	x			As above
Pregnancy or maternity		x		Best Start in Life (BSiL) will further support services to this area. BSiL is very much part of the delivery of FFPP.
Marriage or civil partnership	x			As above

Section 7. How will this proposal affect people who…	No impact	Make things better	Make things worse	Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
..live in a rural area?	x			Services are delivered to all of the protected characteristics as BAU – the new way of working will continue to deliver services to all.
…have a low income?	x			As above
…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?	x			As above
….. are from the Armed Forces Community	x			As above

Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply)
North Yorkshire wide	All areas across North Yorkshire Council footprint
Craven district
Hambleton district
Harrogate district
Richmondshire district
Ryedale district
Scarborough district
Selby district
If you have ticked one or more districts, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.
Overall aim and impact is to support children and their families within their communities to live safely, happy, healthy and achieve. It is important that children have a sense of belonging and where appropriate can live with their parents or within their networks. The aim being reducing the number of children becoming looked after

Section 9. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics? (for example, older women or young gay men) State what you think the effect may be and why, providing evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.

No

Section 10. Next steps to address the anticipated impact. Select one of the following options and explain why this has been chosen. (Remember: we have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access services and work for us)	Tick option chosen
1. No adverse impact - no major change is needed to the proposal. There is no potential for discrimination or adverse impact identified.	x
2. Adverse impact - adjust the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We will change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, or we will achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people.
3. Adverse impact - continue the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We cannot change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, nor can we achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. (There must be compelling reasons for continuing with proposals which will have the most adverse impacts. Get advice from Legal Services)
4. Actual or potential unlawful discrimination - stop and remove the proposal – The EIA identifies actual or potential unlawful discrimination. It must be stopped.
Explanation of why the option has been chosen (include any advice given by Legal Services.) Impacts will be positive for all groups

Section 11. If the proposal is to be implemented how will you find out how it is really affecting people? (How will you monitor and review the changes?)

Post Implementation Review will be undertaken. Data returns to DfE will monitor progress

Section 12. Action plan. List any actions you need to take which have been identified in this EIA, including post implementation review to find out how the outcomes have been achieved in practice and what impacts there have actually been on people with protected characteristics.
Action	Lead	By when	Progress	Monitoring arrangements

Section 13. Summary Summarise the findings of your EIA, including impacts, recommendation in relation to addressing impacts, including any legal advice, and next steps. This summary should be used as part of the report to the decision maker.

At this stage, no significant adverse equality impacts have been identified, and a full Equality Impact Assessment is not considered proportionate. However, as service redesign and implementation progress, equality impacts will continue to be monitored through programme governance, performance reporting, workforce consultation, engagement with safeguarding partners and feedback from children, young people and families. Any emerging impacts identified through pilot activity, service redesign or organisational change processes will be assessed and mitigated appropriately.

The proposal supports the Council in meeting its statutory responsibilities under the Children Act 1989, Children Act 2004, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, the Children’s Social Care National Framework and Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance by strengthening early intervention, safeguarding and family support arrangements. The recommendation is therefore to proceed with implementation of the programme and associated investment, whilst ensuring ongoing review of equalities implications, workforce impacts and service outcomes as part of the planned governance, monitoring and future reporting arrangements.

Section 14. Sign off section

This full EIA was completed by:

Name: Mel Hutchinson

Job title: Assistant Director

Directorate: CYPS

Signature: Mel Hutchinson

Completion date: 06.07.2026

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature):

Date: