Decision details

To outline the grant that has been received by Sheffield City Council from the Department of Education and detail how the funding will be used to provide Family Group Conferences.

That receipt of the £245,500 grant from the Department for Education is acknowledged, and approval be given for the funds to be used as outlined in the report.

The funding will strengthen Children and Families’ Family Group Conferencing service to fully embed the practice for families, enabling intervention early to support a key objective to help families stay safe and well together.

Family Group Conferencing also supports the commitment to a strength based approach to work with families through adoption of the Signs of Safety practice model.

Family Group Conferencing is aligned with our principles and it will support local service planning to deliver the vision for children and families in Sheffield.

No alternative models have been considered.  This was a stream of funding available specifically as part of the DfE’s ‘Supporting Families: Investing in Practice’ initiative.  Family Group Conferencing is a key innovation identified by them for scale and spread.