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Department for Education releases numerous research reports supporting children and their families

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All rights reserved.
Date:3 AUG 2026
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The Department for Education has released the following research reports:

  • Family Voice Project: final research report;
  • Family finding and befriending and mentoring: evaluation reports;
  • Data and digital maturity in children’s social care;
  • Supporting Families spend evaluation: final report; and
  • Families first for children pathfinder: phase 2 evaluation report.

Family Voice Project: final research report - Research report exploring the lived experiences of children and families accessing local family support services.

The final research report for the Family Voice Project – a cross-government project drawing on engagement with families and work with local areas to explore the experiences of families accessing family support services.

The report details work across 2 workstreams:

  • a national delivery workstream, focused on facilitating networks to better understand the lived experience of children, young people, parents and carers
  • a local delivery workstream, focused on developing new and more effective routes for families to influence local service delivery across family support and early help at local authority level

To read the Family Voice report in full, click here.

Family finding and befriending and mentoring: evaluation reports - The evaluation of the family finding and befriending and mentoring programme, including from the first year of delivery and the final evaluation findings.

Reports from the evaluation of the family finding and befriending and mentoring programme. The programme was funded by the Department for Education and delivered across 45 local authorities in England.

The reports: 
  • examine programme implementation, delivery and outcomes
  • explore how projects supported care-experienced children and young people to develop positive relationships and support networks

Findings are based on evidence gathered from children and young people, delivery teams and partner organisations throughout the programme.

To read the Evaluation of the Family Finding and Befriending and Mentoring Programme Year 1 Report, click here.

To read the Evaluation of the Family Finding and Befriending and Mentoring Programme Year 2 Report, click here.


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Data and digital maturity in children’s social care - Findings from a national survey of local authority data and digital capabilities in children’s social care.

This survey forms part of a wider programme of work in which the Local Government Association, as part of the Data to Insight consortium, has collaborated with the Department for Education to design a Centre of Excellence for Data and Digital for children’s social care.

The survey’s purpose was to understand:

  • local authorities’ current level of data and digital maturity
  • how data, technology and digital capabilities are being used to support outcomes for children and their families

The survey also sought to identify where the Centre of Excellence can best provide support, and offered authorities the opportunity to influence its design.

To view the Data and Digital Maturity in Children’s Social Care Report in full, click here.

Supporting Families spend evaluation: final report - Local spending of funding for the Supporting Families programme between 2022 and 2025.

The Supporting Families programme (formerly Troubled Families programme) ran between 2013 and 2025.

It funded whole family, multi-agency and early support for families. It received an additional £200 million for programme delivery until March 2025, taking the overall funding to £696 million.

There was significant variation in local spending patterns, but the report finds that, between 2022 and 2025, funding was primarily used to:

  • support staffing
  • invest in:
    • training
    • infrastructure 
    • commissioned specialist services

The study highlights the challenges in:

  • tracking expenditure where Supporting Families funding was combined with that from other sources
  • assessing the impact of additional investment, owing to the available data being insufficient

To  view the Supporting Families Spend Evaluation: Final Report in full, click here.

Families first for children pathfinder: phase 2 evaluation report - An update on the longer-term evaluation methodology and qualitative findings from phase 2 of the families first for children pathfinder programme.

The second evaluation report on the families first for children pathfinder programme across Wave 1 and Wave 2 local authorities.

To  view the Families First for Children Pathfinder: Phase 2 Evaluation Report in full, click here.


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