Somerset Family Support Service (SFSS)

Somerset Council is recommissioning the Somerset Family Support Service (SFSS), which provides early help and targeted support to children, young people and families across Somerset. The service plays a key role in helping families to build resilience, improve outcomes and prevent escalation to statutory interventions by offering accessible, strengths-based support and working alongside partners in local communities.
SFSS has been delivered in Somerset since 2018. Recent contract monitoring information indicates sustained demand: since 2022/23 the service has accepted 288 families (2022/23 to 29 January 2026), averaging around 74 families per year, with 65 families accepted to date in 2025/26. Overall, the service is intended to provide a preventative pathway by strengthening family resilience and reducing escalation into higher-cost statutory intervention; performance reporting also indicates that around 85% of families supported have not escalated in their level of need.
SFSS is aimed at children, young people and families living in Somerset who would benefit from early help and targeted, preventative support. Access is typically via referrals from the Council and partner agencies, and delivery is intended to be strengths-based and community focused.
Essential referral eligibility criteria within the current SFSS model include: a child in the family under the age of 12 (who is usually the intended beneficiary, although support is delivered on a whole-family basis); and existing involvement at the point of referral from Social Care, the Family Intervention Service, or a Parent and Family Support Advisor (PFSA).
SFSS is intended to provide locality-based services throughout Somerset, delivered at venues convenient to the service user, including the family home and community venues. Services are delivered at times convenient to the service user and subject to volunteer availability. Given the inclusion of short-stay hosting within the current model, the service...