Published on:
23
May 2024
The Council has welcomed yesterday’s announcement by the First Minister of the Scottish Government’s intention to continue supporting Early Adopter Communities and their work testing and developing a childcare offer for low income families for children from nine months to the end of primary school.
Clackmannanshire’s Child Wellbeing Partnership, as part of the Family Wellbeing Partnership, has brought together an innovative and exciting collaboration of private and third sector partners who have worked together to develop a range of childcare and activity services benefiting families across Alloa South and East. This has enabled many parents and carers to complete training and education opportunities, gain additional employment hours or secure employment. This has also led to increased job opportunities and security within childcare and activity services.
Yesterday’s announcement of continued funding will enable this existing partnership to continue and allow the Child Wellbeing Partnership to extend beyond Alloa South and East. This will involve working alongside families and the Scottish Government to continue to design, capture and share the learning on what makes a difference to families in tackling poverty and inequality.
Council Leader Ellen Forson said: “We are delighted with the ongoing support from the Scottish Government, announced by the First Minister today. This will make a real difference in our communities.
“Clackmannanshire is leading the way in reforming how public services are designed and delivered to communities.
“The Family Wellbeing Partnership is working with third sector organisations and community groups here in Clackmannanshire to reshape the services that people want and need. This collaborative approach aims to make it easier for families to access the support they need, when they need it, to help families out of poverty and improve family wellbeing and outcomes.
“In addition to our Child Wellbeing Partnership, The Family Wellbeing Partnership’s work streams of Community Around the School, Employability and STRIVE (Safeguarding for Rapid Intervention – including early intervention) means that our teams are making a real impact for communities throughout Clackmannanshire.”
Hawkhill Community Association is one of the partner organisations. Manager Sandra Clemments said: “The announcement by the First Minister is a welcome one. We have been working with the Family Wellbeing Partnership and local families successfully for over a year now, and the difference this has made has been fantastic. People working more hours, starting new jobs for the first time in years and others going into training and further education. This fund has been a life changer for lots of families, it's great that this has been recognised.”