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Save Families Information Services (FIS)
The role of the Families Information Services (FIS)
Since 1 April 2008, the Childcare Act 2006 has placed enhanced duties on all local authorities (LAs) in England to provide high quality, accurate and timely information and advice to parents on childcare and other services that they may need to support their children up to their 20th birthday. This duty is normally delivered through the Families Information Services (FIS) in each LA. Statutory guidance – Duty to provide information, advice and assistance: Guidance for local authorities (February 2008) – is available and describes the range of information to be provided.
FISs provide information, advice and guidance to mothers, fathers and carers on:
- childcare and early years services in the local area (particularly registered and unregistered childcare providers)
- the free entitlement to early years provision
- childcare settings that are suitable for children with disabilities and special educational needs.
They also:
- establish and run brokerage services for parents who find it difficult to access the childcare provision they need
- provide local information, advice and guidance about other services, facilities and publications. These can be wide-ranging but include health, education, parenting, financial support and housing
- facilitate access to information services that reach out to disadvantaged families who might otherwise find difficult to take up the services they need.
The Families First awards
The Families First Standards awards have been developed by the National Association of Families Information Services (NAFIS), with support from DCSF, to ensure that all local authorities are consistent in the type and quality of information delivered by their FIS. To qualify for an award, each FIS must submit evidence to an independent assessor to demonstrate compliance with each of the eleven published standards. An independent verification panel reviews each assessor’s recommendation to ensure the scrutiny process is applied equally. Further information, including downloadable copies of the standards and associated guidance, is available on the NAFIS website.
Support for FIS
A range of FIS development support tools is available to help with developing, implementing, and delivering the information duty. These tools are listed below and can be downloaded as PDF documents from the FIS development support tools page. Future development support for FIS will be made available on a regional basis through Government Offices.
- Planning to inform
- Planning to deliver
- Widening the information offer
- Widening the information offer - Support sheet 1: Working in partnership to manage information
- Widening the information offer - Support sheet 2: Parent Know How Directory – family services directories content sources
- Do FIS make a difference? A performance management handbook for Families Information Services
- Performance management handbook wallchart: Examples of performance management activities that FIS might undertake
Evaluation of Families Information Services
The Department for Children, Schools and Families published the findings of an evaluation of Families Information Services in March 2009. The evaluation was carried out in July 2008, three months after the statutory duty (section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006 - the duty to provide information, advice and assistance) took effect. DCSF will undertake a follow up survey of FIS Managers in early 2010.
The Parent Know How Directory (PKHD)
The Parent Know How Directory (PKHD) offer parents and those working with them the ability to search for information about childcare and families services in both their local community and nationally. Visit the Parent Know How Directory on DirectGov or read more about Parent Know How and the background to the directory.
Further information
Details of all Families Information Services can be found on the NAFIS website. Alternatively, parents and carers can call the FIS National Helpline on 0800 234 6346 to find their local Families Information Service.
Associated documents
Duty to provide information, advice and assistance: Guidance for LAs (February 2008)
Download the contents of this page:
as a Word Document
Last updated on 07/01/2010
