The programme of work focuses on strengthening speech, language and communication support across Worcestershire through a refreshed whole-system approach. It will update and relaunch the county's SLCN balanced system pathway, ensuring parents, carers and wider children's workforce have clear, accessible information, written resources and free online webinars to support children's speech, language and communication development and to know when and where to seek support. This will be underpinned by enhanced Public Health communications to maximise reach and consistency across the sector. This is funded through the Best Start Family Hubs funding.

The aims of the provision are * To update and refresh Worcestershire's SLCN Balanced System Pathway in order to ensure parents, carers and the wider children's workforce have access to information, written materials and online webinars to develop children's speech, language and communication skills and know where to go if they are concerned about a child's speech, language and communication development. * To support and expand the work of the 'lite' ELSEC Project (Early Language Support for Every Child) which is providing enhanced support to identified schools and settings to enable them to support children's speech, language and communication skills. This expansion will include: 1. Supporting the delivery of parent workshops in ELSEC schools for strategies or approaches embedded into practice in the school, for example listening skills or concept teaching 2. A package of support to identified feeder nurseries to support or enhance their universal and targeted offer, including the use of identification and intervention tools such as Little Link; including provision of any necessary equipment and resources The award has been made following direct award process A in accordance with the Provider Selection Regime 2023 regulations. The contract is for 12 months from 01 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. There is an option to extend for up to 2 years on a one plus one basis, subject to performance and funding priorities. The contract value for 2026-27 is £90,000. The whole life value over the three years is £270,000.