Camden's Family Hubs Pregnancy Grant: emerging findings
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Authors
Carla Stanke
Jun Nakagawa
Benny Souto
Mary-Alice Doyle
Dea Nielsen
Ghazal Moenie
Mara Bruno
Moria Sloan
Zoe Tyndall
Amy Kimbangi
Contact
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Issue Date
06-May-26
Type
Conference Abstract
Language
Keywords
Economic inclusion , Implementation/scale up
Alternative Title
Abstract
Background
Maternal stress is strongly associated with adverse health and developmental outcomes for babies. Providing unconditional financial support during pregnancy can help reduce stress for families and improve outcomes for children, especially in low-income households.
In 2025, Camden Council, in partnership with the NHS and Nesta, began piloting the Family Hubs Pregnancy Grant (FHPG). The pilot programme consists of two elements:
• an unconditional £500 cash grant given to pregnant people towards the end of pregnancy
• proactive outreach from a Family Navigator – a specially trained council officer who can connect participants with other support available to them
This approach is based on evidence that greater impact may be achieved when financial support is ‘stacked' with other offers, such as parenting advice or community connection.
Most eligible families do not need to apply; instead, linking together existing NHS and benefits data allows proactive identification of eligible families.
Objectives
The grant aims to support healthier pregnancies, reduce inequalities, and strengthen early relationships between families and services.
The pilot aims to test whether combining unconditional cash support with the option of proactive, personalised guidance from a Family Navigator improves outcomes for families.
The results of the pilot will help Camden make a case for scaling up this approach in the future, with insights on how cash and early support can reduce stress, improve service engagement, and lay the foundations for long-term child development.
Stage at submission
FHPG is a work in progress. To date nearly 400 grants have been offered, and a toolkit was published to assist other local authorities in similar data-driven outreach efforts. Data is being collected for the evaluation.
Methods
The evaluation will utilise a mixed methods approach, including randomisation of the Family Navigator offer and analysis of its impact on service use. The research team are conducting surveys, interviews and analysis of process data as part of a theory-based evaluation of the value-add of the ‘stacked' intervention.
Learning so far/discussion points
Uptake of the FHPG has been high and early feedback has been positive. An interim evaluation is underway, and we plan to share emerging evaluation findings in this session.