Strengthening Integrated Prevention for Children and Families
Context
The Leeds Community Mission Challenge was a 100-day, place-based Test, Learn and Grow programme delivered through the Government’s Health Mission and Places for Growth agenda. Leeds was selected as the national Health Mission testbed, building on the Leeds health and social care thematic campus, to explore whether better integrated working across health, social care, early years and wider public services could help prevent children aged 0–2 from entering care. This challenge sits at the heart of the Health Mission and focused on shifting intervention earlier and closer to families, generating practical learning for both Leeds and wider public service reform.
Working alongside Leeds, national government and frontline practitioners, Akeso supported delivery of the 100-day Community Mission Challenge using a Test, Learn and Grow approach, placing real-world testing at the centre of programme delivery.
Challenge
In Inner East Leeds, practitioners described a complex landscape of support spread across health, social care, education, housing, voluntary sector and wider public services. While significant support existed for children and families, services were not always joined up around family need, information was held across multiple organisations, and practitioners often lacked a holistic view of risk and vulnerability. Families frequently engaged with multiple services simultaneously, without clear ownership or coordinated sequencing of support.
The challenge was not simply to design another service model. It was to understand how existing services could work together differently to enable earlier intervention, improve coordination and generate real-world evidence on what works in practice.
Our Approach
Akeso developed an approach that began with frontline insight, engaging over 70 practitioners and leaders across health, social care, voluntary sector organisations and wider public services. Through interviews, focus groups, innovation labs and system workshops, we heard three recurring themes:
- “We need better, more coordinated, integrated working”
- “Building strong relationships with families is essential for positive outcomes”
- “Being able to share information will reduce repetition and enable shared decision making”
Using these insights, we worked with partners to develop and test three integrated ways of working:
An Integrated Huddle
Bringing together the right practitioners at the right time to make shared decisions around families
A Single Lead Practitioner Model
To provide clear ownership and coordinate support across services
A Place-Based Data Sharing Workstream
To explore how information could better support proactive decision-making and prevention
The programme deliberately moved away from designing solutions in theory. Instead, Leeds tested new approaches with real families, frontline teams and communities, learning rapidly through live delivery and adapting the model throughout the programme.
The CMC focused on families below statutory thresholds, where support exists but is not yet joined up or proactive. It tested whether small changes in ways of working could improve integration and enable earlier intervention within the current system.
Outcomes
The programme demonstrated that integrated, whole-family working can improve coordination, strengthen shared decision-making and support earlier intervention without creating new services or delivery structures.
Working with three families, the Integrated Huddle and Single Lead Practitioner model achieved rapid, measurable change at both family and system level, alongside value a cost line alone cannot capture.
For Family 1, a pre-birth case awaiting a learning and development assessment since 2024, the huddle surfaced the risk and secured a mental health assessment within 4 weeks, having stalled for 2 years. Professional judgement indicates this de-escalated the anticipated trajectory from Court proceedings and a Parent & Baby placement (Children Looked After) to a Child Protection Plan, an estimated system cost reduction from £100k–115k per case to £10k–15k annually, sparing the family the trauma of separation
For Family 2, an expectant mother with no antenatal support in place was, within 3 weeks of her first huddle, allocated a health visitor, seen, given her first scan and set on a clear support pathway, de-escalating from a likely Child Protection Plan to a Child in Need Plan and reducing estimated annual system cost from £10k–15k to £3.5k–4.5k. Her SLP deliberately paced this support, protecting her capacity to engage rather than overwhelming her
For Family 3, previously separate Adult and Children's Social Care assessments were coordinated into a single, joined-up assessment involving Occupational Therapy, reducing duplication and estimated 24/7 Adult Social Care costs by 25%, from £219,361 to £164,521 per year
Applying the Family 1 and 2 outcomes proportionately to comparable national caseloads (England, 2024) suggests a potential national saving of £184.18m–£232.13m if scaled, plus circa £40.3m nationally from the Family 3 outcome
A before-and-after Practitioner-Led Sentiment Survey evidenced the system-level shift behind these outcomes, joined-up working and information flow improved 18%, role clarity improved 15%, and workload impact improved 15%
Key deliverables included:
- A tested Integrated Huddle model
- A Single Lead Practitioner approach for coordinating support around families
- A Leeds Place-Based Data Sharing Roadmap
- A Test, Learn and Grow framework to support future transformation programmes across Leeds
The programme also generated practical learning for local and national partners on integrated working, whole-family approaches, sequencing support and the conditions required for effective place-based prevention.
Value extended beyond NHS and social care budgets too. The Huddle pulled in housing, employment, welfare advice and substance misuse support as needed, addressing the wider determinants of health driving these families’ circumstances alongside their statutory risk. Some of the most significant impact is what was felt – one family told the SLP it “feels like we are not doing this alone as a family,” reflecting dignity restored. None of it required new services, structures or funding. As Ben Finley, Deputy Director, LCC Children’s & Families, reflected: “the outcomes achieved through the CMC were above what would normally be expected… changes in service delivery can make a real change for families.”
Contact Our Experts
Rosie Morgan
Manager
Rosie.Morgan@akeso.co.uk