More than 250 paid NHS placements will be made available to parents across Scotland as part of Scottish Government efforts to eradicate child poverty.
The paid placements, covering roles such as porters, caterers, healthcare support workers, administration assistants, and assistant technical officers, will be available across 18 health boards.
With paid placements typically lasting between 6-18 months, the project is targeted at those facing the greatest risk of poverty – helping more parents to access employment in Scotland’s NHS.
On a visit to Kirklands HQ, NHS Lanarkshire, to mark the start of Challenge Poverty Week, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville met Mairead Doyle, who joined a similar employability programme with NHS Lanarkshire in 2024.
Since then, Ms Doyle has been promoted twice and is now employed in the Band 4 position of Management Secretary.
Ms Somerville said: “Eradicating child poverty is the Scottish Government’s top priority and we know that fair work in the NHS will offer a real route out of poverty for families.
“We are equipping parents with the skills and experience needed to have a long and successful career, with the opportunity for real progression, while strengthening the NHS workforce of the future.
“This project scales existing successful models already delivered by NHS boards and I’m pleased that we’re able to extend this opportunity to hundreds more families across the country.”
Commenting on the employability programme, past participant Ms Doyle said: “The Parental Employability Programme gave me the confidence and support I needed to return to work after several years away from employment.
“Through the programme I secured a role with NHS Lanarkshire and have since progressed to a Band 4 position. It has had a positive impact on both my career and my family, and I’m grateful for the opportunity it provided.’’
Since launching the NHS Lanarkshire Demonstrator Programme has supported 136 parents and people experiencing long-term unemployment, with more than 77% progressing into positive destinations, including directly into NHS employment. Outcomes have improved year on year, with their most recent programme achieving almost 88% positive destinations.
Jacqui Jones, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of HR at NHS Lanarkshire said: “The NHS is one of the largest employers in Scotland and employment is one of the strongest drivers of good health by creating opportunities for local parents and families to gain skills, experience and jobs.
“We are helping people thrive, building a workforce that reflects our communities, and making a positive difference to the health of Lanarkshire.”
Up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs to be rolled out across England to provide wide-ranging help for families, such as parenting and early development
Parents across England will benefit from greater support to make family life easier on their doorstep, as the government rolls out ‘Best Start Family Hubs’ across every local authority – relieving pressure on parents and giving half a million more children the very best start in life.
Postcodes shouldn’t dictate the support available, but one in four families with children under five cannot access local children’s centres or Family Hubs, rising to one in three lower income families.
This means thousands of parents cut off from vital community support networks and specialist services – left to navigate the challenges of parenthood alone – as well as a devastating impact on children’s life chances, with early development, wellbeing and future attainment all in jeopardy.
Best Start Family Hubs will act as a one stop shop for parents seeking a range of support, including on difficulty breastfeeding, housing issues or children’s early development and language, reassuring families that they have convenient access to support in their local area or can be efficiently connected to specialist local services.
Rolling out in every local authority by April 2026, Hubs will offer interventions and courses which work for parents – such as stay and play groups which help parents connect or sessions which help manage children’s emotional needs – while providing a single point of access for services across health, education, and wellbeing.
Backed by over £500 million, the rollout will help transform the existing Family Hubs and Start for Life programme and create up to 1,000 hubs across the country by the end of 2028. This includes areas currently without any access to support hubs – from Warrington and Leeds to Reading and Somerset.
Sure Start revolutionised family and community services, with research showing that children who lived within a short distance of a Sure Start centre for their first five years were 0.9 percentage points more likely to achieve five good GCSEs at grades age 16.
Plans launched today will draw on lessons learned from the legacy programme, as well as build on infrastructure from the current Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.
It complements work already underway to make family life easier and alleviate the burden on parents, including by expanding government-funded childcare to 30-hours, increasing the reach of school-based nurseries, and rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school to support working parents.
Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson said: “It’s the driving mission of this government to break the link between a child’s background and what they go on to achieve – our new Best Start Family Hubs will put the first building blocks of better life chances in place for more children.
“I saw firsthand how initiatives like Sure Start helped level the playing field in my own community, transforming the lives of children by putting in place family support in the earliest years of life, and as part of our Plan for Change, we’re building on its legacy for the next generation of children.
“Making sure hard-working parents are able to benefit from more early help is a promise made, and promise kept – delivering a lifeline of consistent support across the nation, ensuring health, social care and education work in unison to ensure all children get the very best start in life.”
Hubs will also act as a ‘front door’ to local family help workers for vulnerable families – providing a single point of entry to join-up universal services and children’s social care, ensuring early help before issues escalate.
This forms a key plank of the government’s direction setting ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ strategy to be published tomorrow, making sure parents don’t have to battle complex systems to access basic parenting, health and family services.
Building on the legacy of Sure Start, we're creating up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across England.
The Rainbow Family Hub in Washington provides vital support to support children and families. Backed by £500m, our hubs will reach half a million more children by 2028. pic.twitter.com/oTDXp3K681
— Department for Education (@educationgovuk) July 6, 2025
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Every child – no matter their background – deserves the best start in life. I know what it’s like to grow up in a family where work is low-paid and insecure, and I know the power of a good support network.
“That’s why, as part of our Plan for Change, rolling out these Best Start Family Hubs are so vital – one stop shops offering parents not only crucial connections with other families but also the health, education and wellbeing support they need.
“By bringing together early support services and investing £500 million in children’s development, we’re taking preventative action that will improve lives and reduce pressure on the NHS – a key part of our 10 Year Health Plan.”
Best Start Family Hubs will help families with services like:
Activities for children aged 0-5
Birth registration
Debt and welfare advice
Domestic abuse support
Early language support
Health Visiting
Housing support
Infant Feeding Support
Mental health services
Midwifery/maternity services
Nutrition and weight management
Oral health improvement
Parenting Support
Reducing Parental Conflict
SEND support and services
Stop smoking support
Substance (alcohol/drug) misuse support
Support for separating and separated parents
Youth services
To further streamline the path to support, a new Best Start digital service will also be launched to enable parents to access evidence-based guidance within seconds.
The digital platform will provide advice on a range of topics and connect parents to their local Best Start Family Hub, as well as link to the NHS App – making sure these services are at the centre of every community, whether on- or off-line.
Anna Feuchtwang, CEO, National Children’s Bureau said: “The Prime Minister’s Plan for Change set out his ambition to improve outcomes in early childhood. Now the government has put its money where its mouth is and committed to rolling out Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority.
“With indications of a funding boost for babies and young children already included in the 10 Year Health plan, I am delighted to see children and families being given clear priority in government spending decisions. We hope to see a similar priority being given to the early years workforce in the Best Start in Life Strategy published tomorrow.”
It comes as the government has already confirmed it will launch a new data tool for schools to assess whether there is more they can do in reception year to get children ready for year 1, and that every council will be expected to play its part with an individual statutory target for school readiness in their area.
The Hubs will be open to all, making a particular difference to the most vulnerable families and helping tackle the stain of child poverty ahead of the ambitious strategy due to be launched by the government’s Child Poverty Taskforce.
‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ also outlines the key role local authorities will play to drive improvements in the number of children achieving a good level of development by 5 years old.
England’s local authorities will build on their existing work with families, young children and babies, to develop ambitious local plans for meeting their 2028 target.
Fort Kinnaird has partnered with the National Literacy Trust to launch a new summer holiday reading campaign, as new research reveals that almost half of children (45%) in Scotland claim that reading makes them feel better.
The ‘Read More, Feel Better’ campaign is designed to help children across the community to continue reading for fun over the summer holidays, with a selection of top tips and advice for parents on the Fort Kinnaird website, including how to create an effective reading space at home and the best books for supporting children’s wellbeing.
Fort Kinnaird and the National Literacy Trust will also be hosting a live storytelling session for children in August, with two expert storytellers sharing exciting and engaging tales for children aged 5 – 11 years. Parents will need to register for the Zoom session in advance – keep an eye on Fort Kinnaird’s social feeds for all the details.
The centre has also donated 100 books to Venchie as part of the campaign. This follows a series of donations the centre has made to local foodbanks and charities throughout the pandemic.
‘Read More, Feel Better’ is being delivered as part of the award-winning Young Readers Programme, an initiative run by Fort Kinnaird’s co-owner, British Land, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust.
Jonathan Douglas, chief executive of the National Literacy Trust, said:“Our research shows that almost half of children across the country said that reading helps them relax and feel better.
“Not only does this campaign help to support children’s wellbeing, it’s also a great way to ensure their continued literary development in a period of their education which has been so disruptive.”
Liam Smith, centre director at Fort Kinnaird, said: “The Read More, Feel Better campaign is a great initiative.
“The events of the last 15 months have meant that we wanted to go even further to provide some support for parents over the summer holidays, and to highlight how doing little things can have such a positive impact.”
Advice for parents and carers on managing the impact of Covid-19 on their child’s learning and family life is now available.
Following school closures, a new hub of information has been created on parentclub.scot covering health information, advice on how to talk about Covid-19 and ideas on helping children through this time.
In addition; councils and headteachers can also advise parents and carers on the continued provision of education and childcare for key workers.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “This is the biggest challenge of our lives and my priority is to ensure the health and wellbeing of children and young people, and as far as possible, to minimise disruption to learning.
“My message for parents and carers is clear – you are not alone and we are here to help you. We do not expect you to be teachers or set up a classroom, but there are ways you can support your child or children at home which will help their continued wellbeing and learning.
“Our Parent Club website offers valuable tips for families on managing the impact of Covid-19 and ways to support children through this uncertain period.
“I would also highlight the excellent advice already provided by many organisations like Young Scot or Children 1st that talk directly to young people about their concerns.”
An Edinburgh based helpline for stressed parents and carers is looking for volunteer call takers. ParentLine Scotland took more than 4000 calls from anxious mums, dads and carers from across the country last year.
The charity offers a helpline, email and web-chat service, for anyone caring for or concerned about a child. It is run by CHILDREN 1ST which works to ensure every child and young person in Scotland has a happy, healthy, safe and secure childhood.
Helpline Manager Jill Cook said: “Our volunteers make an enormous difference to the lives of mums, dads, carers, and professionals just by being there to listen and reassure. It’s a vital service and we ensure they’re ready for the role with 40 hours of high quality training. They also have back-up from a supervisor.”
Volunteers at ParentLine Scotland give a minimum commitment to a year after training. The charity says it’s looking for caring, non-judgemental people who are interested in the wellbeing of children and young people. Calls can be about all sorts of issues from bullying to separating families, teenage behaviour and toddlers tantrums.
Volunteer Janin Pohl (40) said: “Whatever people call with we take it seriously, it’s not trivial. In that time they are valued. You don’t often find out how things go but at the time you have that sense that there is now a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.”
Janin Pohl (40) from Edinburgh has been a ParentLine Scotland volunteer for three and a half years. She was born in Germany and travelled before settling in Edinburgh seven years ago. She is trained in counselling and shiatsu massage. Janin is blind.
How did you get involved?
“When I saw the advert for ParentLine Scotland I came at it from the perspective of a child. There are so many things that aren’t talked about in families. They’re swept under the carpet or people never say how they are feeling and I thought maybe it’s like that for adults too. Plus I’d done counselling training and this was a way I could use my skills. I’d been volunteering from home and I thought it would be good to go to an office with a team and a supervisor and be with people.”
Why do you think ParentLine can help even when friends and family can’t?
“You can decide when you want to talk and the caller is in control. They can say things they would never say at home. Some people do have support but find it easier to talk to a stranger who will not judge them or their situation.”
How do you cope with calls that are upsetting?
“If I have a difficult call the most important thing is to acknowledge how it is making me feel. If I feel sad then I am sad. If I need to I can get support from the supervisor and we can talk about it.”
What would you say to someone considering volunteering?
“I’d say it’s always good to give something a try. You don’t need to have a family of your own. As someone from outside of the family you have perspective. It’s about being there with them accompanying the person in what they are going through.”
