Projects & Partnerships 14 January 2026

Families Financial Resilience Partnership

Based across 12 London boroughs, this programme enables access to advice via Family Hubs and Children's Centres. This model of delivery is already well established and pioneered by local offices for example in Citizens Advice Brent where a holistic model of advice in provided with Brent's Family wellbeing Centres.

This new programme enables us to scale this model in other borough; the project launch tool place in Deptford with Citizens Advice Lewisham who already deliver advice at the Clyde Family Hub. See more about the launch Families Financial Resilience Partnership launch - London Citizens Advice

The project works in partnership with London Legal Support Trust and Centres of Excellence.

This programme, funded by the Greater London Authority, is a partnership between the GLA, 12 London boroughs and 26 advice agencies to deliver life-changing social welfare income maximisation advice for families in Best Start Family Hubs and Children’s Centres. Families will be able to access expert generalist and specialist social welfare advice in trusted local family settings and experience a more integrated approach to support.

The programme is expected to help more than 17,500 families in its first year, enabling them to access around £8 million in financial support which would otherwise go unclaimed. The partnership will provide free, independent advice to thousands of families with children on a wide range of issues, including benefits, housing, childcare, immigration, disability, and employment.

Alongside advice funding, the Programme will bring together local authorities and advice services to design better triage pathways, training for frontline staff, and pan-London service delivery which will help improve the accessibility, provision and consistency of advice for families in London. The Programme will also aim to share learning and evaluation about what works best for families to improve how the advice sector and the public sector at local and regional levels can come together to support families and gives all children and young people the best start in life.

For families, accessing advice can mean getting life-changing support with social welfare issues, helping them resolve these at an early stage, and preventing them from escalating into bigger, more complex ones. High-quality advice services help families increase their incomes, access the benefits they are entitled to, and alleviate financial hardship. For many, timely advice prevents problems from escalating and supports a more secure future for their children.

The Family Financial Resilience Partnership will be delivered through Best Start Family Hubs and Children’s Centres across Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham, Greenwich, Croydon, Brent, Enfield, Southwark, Haringey, Lewisham, Ealing, and Barking and Dagenham.

This investment into the advice that families need will help provide them with the support they need to tackle hardship, increase their incomes and give their children the best start in life. 

The progamme links to wider Governmental strategies on tackling child poverty. The Best Start in Life Family Hubs are funded by the Department for Education and delivered by local authorities. The Hubs join up services, providing a trusted local setting for families to access support. Family Hubs improve families’ access to services and the connections between families, professionals, services, and providers, and can ensure all parents and carers' can access support they need when they need it, and get the best health and education outcomes for their children. The government is investing over £500 million to create a network of up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across every local authority in England by 2028. This is part of the government’s Best Start in Life Strategy, which aims to give all children the best possible start in life by strengthening support for families.