Families First for Children / Family First Pathfinder programme

Regarding your local authority's involvement in the Families First for Children / Family First Pathfinder programme.

I am seeking information relating to organisational, workforce and financial changes associated with the implementation of the Pathfinder model.

Please provide the following information:

1. Confirmation of whether your authority has completed, is currently participating in, or has withdrawn from the Pathfinder, including relevant dates.

2. A organisational chart showing:

a. The children's services structure immediately before Pathfinder implementation.
b. The current or intended structure after implementation.

3. Workforce impact arising from the Pathfinder, including:

a. The number of posts created, deleted, merged or re‑graded.
b. The number of staff made redundant or redeployed.
c. Confirmation of whether any compulsory redundancies occurred.

4. Costs associated with implementation, including:

a. Total Pathfinder funding received from the Department for Education.
b. Any additional local authority costs linked to implementation (e.g. workforce, programme management, training, systems).

5. Copies of any internal evaluations, business cases, or lessons‑learned reports relating to the Pathfinder.

1. Lincolnshire was named as a Pathfinder for the Families First Programme in July 2023 and is continuing as a Pathfinder until March 2027.

2a. Please see attached

b. Please see attached

3a. Created

Permanent 38.5 FTE

Fixed Term8.75 FTE

Deleted - 0

Merged – 0

Re-graded:

Permanent 16 FTE

b. 0

c. 0

4a. The grant determination letters for Pathfinders can be found here: Families first for children pathfinder: grant determination letters - GOV.UK

For 2025 – 2026 – All local authorities received funding to deliver the social care reforms as part of its LGFS; however, Lincolnshire received specific Pathfinder delivery and support funding as follows:

Pathfinder delivery - £331,062

Pathfinder Support Funding - £190,000

Any pathfinder funding for 2026-27 is still to be determined.

b. Pathfinder delivery has been met within the grant allocations.

5. The DfE appointed an evaluation partner for the programme and Lincolnshire provided insights and input into this report, this was then used to inform learning and delivery against the reforms, along with the publication of the DfE’s 2025 guidance outlining the direction of travel for LAs. This has since been updated and published for 2026.

Families first for children pathfinder: implementation and process evaluation report

See attached document The families First Partnership Programme

Families first partnership programme guide: delivery expectations for statutory safeguarding partners year 2 (2026 to 2027)

Should you require the attachment mentioned above please contact customerinformationservice@lincolnshire.gov.uk with the below reference number and this can be provided.