Sheffield City Council awards the Building Successful Families Sheffield-West contract to YWCA Yorkshire.   

Building Successful Families is the local name for the national Supporting Families Programme which launched in March 2021. It focuses on building the resilience of vulnerable families, and on driving system change.  Through Supporting Families, Local Authorities are tasked with funding Early Help support within their communities, ensuring joined up local services that can identify and respond to families in need. 

Sheffield’s Building Successful Families contract is split into three geographical areas; North, West and East. YWCA Yorkshire will be delivering services across the West of the city.  

Operating from Peile House, the new two-year contract means that YWCA Yorkshire will be growing their team to work with upwards of 30 families a year.  

Families will be referred to Building Successful Families by Sheffield City Council’s Early Help Hub and via Early Help Assessments with people already in touch with Peile House and other partners.  The Council will be working with three delivery partners and their networks to ensure one point of contact locally and widespread support to vulnerable families across Sheffield. 

YWCA Yorkshire has been delivering homeless services and wrap-around support through Peile House with Sheffield City Council since 1993.   Peile House, located in the North of Sheffield, specialises in providing a safe home and trauma-informed support to young women aged 16 to 25 and their children.  

Claire Harding, YWCA Yorkshire Project Manager, said: “Through this contract we'll partner with agencies, service providers and community groups across Sheffield to deliver targeted interventions for families with complex challenges. Taking a ‘whole family’ approach means we can work with all members of the family at different ages and stages of need, helping to identify and resolve those critical barriers preventing families from unlocking their true potential. There are ten ‘areas of need’ identified within the Supporting Families programme and this could involve support around housing, mental health, education or debt management for example.  As is central to our charity’s wider mission, we’ll be working with women, children and families, supporting them to create better futures for themselves right here in Sheffield.”  

YWCA Yorkshire’s targeted support to vulnerable families will have a positive cumulative effect on public services and the wider community. As well as empowering people to build resilience over time, this strength-based approach is designed to prevent poor outcomes for individuals such as homelessness, family breakdowns and children entering care.