Pregnancy is a key window for children’s long-term health and development. But for many families living on low income, pregnancy is a period of intense financial pressure and stress. Some of these families report that during this time, support can be hard to find.

Nesta is partnering with Camden Council and the local NHS to support and evaluate a new approach to increasing engagement with evidence-based family support services among low-income families, specifically focusing on the prenatal period. As part of this work, we developed a toolkit for other local authorities who might be interested in implementing a similar intervention and we have now updated this toolkit with lessons on how best to engage parents.

Our interim findings - published in our March 2026 interim evaluation report - have given new insight into what factors of the Camden Family Hubs Pregnancy Grant have been working well for families and what could be improved. 

We have now translated these observations into “lessons learnt” and updated the toolkit to include these learnings, helping local authorities and practitioners provide more flexible, responsive, and accessible support for families. 

You can find these learnings formatted as purple call out boxes within their relevant sections:

Data collection is still ongoing and these updates represent emerging findings on how to shape a more responsive service, rather than definitive evaluation results. We’ve outlined the key learnings and recommendations below.

Choose the most up-to-date data source

Incorrect or outdated phone numbers account for about 9% of unsuccessful follow-up attempts by family navigators. Where possible use contact information from the most recent interaction.

Diversify communication channels

Around one-third of parents do not answer the family navigator’s call. Introducing alternative, low-pressure channels makes prenatal family hub engagement more accessible and meets families where they are more comfortable.

Clarify the purpose of family hubs

Many parents mistakenly view family hubs primarily as “stay and play” activities and are unaware of wider support offers. Ensure approaches to increase family hub awareness clearly state that family hubs provide free, holistic support from pregnancy onwards (not just play spaces for older children) to address common misconceptions that can delay engagement and reduce uptake.

Lean into the independent family hub brand identity

Parents often see family hubs as distinct from the council. Emphasising this separate, community-focused identity can help create a more approachable and welcoming entry point, particularly for those with negative perceptions of council services. 

Focus on immediate needs

A standard warm intro to a hub feels less relevant for experienced parents. Navigators see better engagement when they address immediate, high-value needs, such as benefits advice, financial guidance, or baby bank referrals.

Offer flexible engagement pathways

Parents experiencing illness, housing instability, or other immediate life challenges in pregnancy often struggle to attend an in-person meeting despite wanting to. Offering more flexible pathways, such as delayed outreach or post-birth engagement, can help families engage when they are ready.  

Equip frontline staff with intuitive tools

Frontline staff balance active listening, safeguarding awareness, note-taking, and relationship-building simultaneously. Replacing long, difficult-to-use conversation guides with shorter, more visual operational tools can better support real-time decision-making.

Family support pathways need to be designed around real-world behaviours and lived experiences. Having inflexible processes - such as requiring family hub introductory offers to be in-person - can cause some families to disengage from the support on offer, especially if they are feeling overwhelmed. 

By integrating these lessons learned into our toolkit, we are providing practical steps to help local authorities build more welcoming, targeted, and flexible entry points for families. 

We’d love to hear from you if you’re working on something similar or considering a pilot of your own. You can reach our team at: [email protected].