FAMILY hubs will be rolled out across every council in England under government plans welcomed by unions today.

The parenting support and youth services were rolled out across 75 local authorities at the start of 2024.

The Department for Education is targeting £500 million at disadvantaged communities under the scheme, with every local authority expected to have a Best Start family hub by April 2026.

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “This is a really good idea, but the funding will have to be at the right level to reap the benefits – at its peak Sure Start invested over £2 billion annually."

GMB national officer Stacey Booth welcomed the “brilliant news” as the closure of sure start centres under the previous government “was an unmitigated disaster.”

Predecessor scheme Sure Start was initiated by New Labour in the 2000s before being largely gutted by successive coalition and Tory governments.

NAHT union general secretary Paul Whiteman said: “This is a positive step forward towards ensuring all children get the best start – and we are pleased to see tangible investment following this week’s announcement of new targets for school readiness.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that the expansion will “give a lifeline” to families, with plans for up to 1,000 hubs by the end of 2028.

The hubs’ services will include birth registration, debt advice, midwifery services and support for parents who are separating or have separated.

Save The Children UK executive director Dan Paskins said: “With ministers now demonstrating an increasingly ambitious plan for children in the UK, we hope this drive for change continues when the child poverty strategy is released in autumn.

“This must include scrapping the two-child limit to universal credit, which is the only meaningful way to reduce the UK’s record child poverty rate.”