Family Hubs / Children's Centre Consultation

Results updated 22 Sep 2026

Outcome of consultation

Thank you to everyone who took part in our consultation on changing Rotherham's Children's Centres into Family Hubs.

We heard from families, carers, staff and practitioners across Rotherham. Your feedback has helped us understand what matters most to local people and will help shape services in the future.

The consultation showed support for making it clearer that services are available for the whole family, including babies, children and young people. After reviewing the feedback, the Council has decided to deregister Children's Centres and rebrand them as Family Hubs.

Many people told us it is important that local support and activities remain free and easy to access. Family Hubs will continue to provide free support and services for children, young people and families.

Support will continue to be available from Family Hub sites and in community venues across Rotherham. This reflects feedback from people who told us they want services to be available in local communities.

What happens next

We will continue to review where and when activities take place. This includes offering services in community venues and exploring more flexible times to help people attend.

We also heard that information about support services should be easier to find. We are improving how we share information through our website, newsletters, social media, schools and nurseries. We are also exploring new ways to communicate directly with families.

We will continue to listen to families and publish "You Said, We Did" updates to show how feedback is helping us improve services.

Thank you again to everyone who took part in the consultation.

Overview

Have Your Say: Family Hubs and Children’s Centres in Rotherham

May 2026

Introduction

We want to hear what you think about how we support families in Rotherham. It’s not just about buildings — it’s about making sure help is easy to find, easy to understand, and works well for families in every community.

Right now, in Rotherham we have both Children’s Centres and Family Hubs, and we know that this can be confusing. Children’s Centres have been delivering services for children aged 0-5 years and their families, whilst Family Hubs services are for children 0-19 (25 for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities).

Family Hubs in Rotherham

Rotherham is part of a national programme to improve support for families. This is now called the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies Programme. In 2023, we renamed some of our buildings to become Family Hubs.

We now have three main Family Hubs:

The Place
Brookfield
Stepping Stones

Plus, a network of sites across Rotherham where families can get help and join in activities such as:

Groups to help children learn and develop
Family support
Infant feeding
Mental health and wellbeing support
Health services
Parenting support
Fun family activities.

What we’re planning

We want every family to know where to go for help, and to feel supported. To make things simpler, we’re planning to:

Deregister Children’s Centres and change their names to Family Hubs.
Use the same name — Family Hub — everywhere, so it’s less confusing.
Offer support for families with children aged 0–19 (or up to 25 with special needs).
Keep all the same groups and activities you already enjoy.
Keep using the same buildings — they’ll just be called Family Hubs.

By taking part in this survey, you agree with the following statement:

I understand that I am under no obligation to complete this consultation and I am willingly providing this data to be used for this specific survey. I consent to Rotherham Council using my information for this purpose. I also understand the results will be published in an anonymised way and I will not be identifiable.

Areas

All Areas

Audiences

All residents
Carers
Children
Disabled people
Older people
Parents
Young people

Interests

Carers
Children
Families
Parents
Young People