DIY checklist
Use this checklist (with hyperlinks to relevant sections of the toolkit) as a guide during the planning and design stage of your own pilot.
Scoping and resourcing
☐ Define your purpose
What are you aiming to achieve - higher service engagement, increased uptake of unclaimed benefits, improved health outcomes, or all of the above? For whom? Collate a brief evidence base to clarify the issue and who it affects. Use local data and insights from families to build shared understanding across teams.
☐ Build your partnerships
Do you have buy-in from other stakeholders, such as early years, public health, welfare and benefits, NHS maternity services, and senior leadership? Who will lead on delivery?
☐ Secure funding
Are there budgets held by the council or with your local health partners which could be used for this purpose? Could you use some of your Household Support Fund (HSF) allocation in this way? From April 2026, the new Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) will replace HSF – can you design your three-year CRF programme to include a scheme like this?
Data and targeting
☐ Identify your cohort (see 'Key considerations in Camden')
Find out how many families you might support and set clear eligibility criteria. Can you securely access and link NHS maternity data with local benefits data to proactively identify eligible families? If not, how else might you be able to identify a similar cohort based on data you do have access to?
☐ Get data sharing in place
Data sharing and governance can take some time. Who owns the data you need? Are data sharing agreements already in place? Which lawful basis will you rely on for the use of the data? If required, begin drafting data sharing agreements and a Data Protection Impact Assessment as early as possible.
Design and testing
☐ Understanding existing provision (see 'Key considerations in Camden')
Find out what outreach is currently happening. What is the gap that needs to be filled and are others already working on this? Consider this within the council, health services and the voluntary and community sector.
☐ Decide on your offer
- What will you provide?
- How much money? (see 'Key considerations in Camden')
- Proactive outreach via a trusted frontline staff member?
- Signposting of services and supporting handover of cases to relevant professionals? (see 'Key considerations in Camden')
- A combination of the above? (see 'Why pair cash with services?')
- How will you provide it?
- Format – cash or bank transfer or both? (see 'Key considerations in Camden')
- Frequency – one-off grant or installments? (see 'Key considerations in Camden')
- Timing - when in pregnancy? Or will you deliver it post-birth? (see 'Key considerations in Camden' and the FAQ: 'What if I don’t have access to pregnancy data?')
☐ Plan for safeguarding and sensitive circumstances (see 'Plan when the grant will be delivered')
Have you identified how to respond if a parent discloses risk or needs additional support? What steps will you take if a family experiences pregnancy loss or distress during the project?
Consider implementing:
- training for Family Navigators or staff on how to respond with care
- clear safeguarding protocols and referral pathways
- sensitive messaging that acknowledges pregnancy loss in a compassionate, non-stigmatising way.
☐ Develop and test your delivery assets with your target audience
Start preparing templates and tools such as:
☐ Plan for monitoring and evaluation (see 'do I need to evaluate?')
Do you want to do an impact evaluation? If so, what outcomes will you track? Will you need ethics approval? Can you partner with a university or external evaluator?
