Sheffield City Council has awarded a 12 month Building Successful Families contract extension to YWCA Yorkshire following an effective pilot.  

Since the initial award in 2024, YWCA Yorkshire have supported 49 families in Sheffield West, 30 of whom have now completed the targeted support programme. 

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 families facing disadvantage, 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 deliver services across the West of the city.   

Operating from YWCA Yorkshire’s homeless women’s hostel Peile House, the renewed contract means continuous support for families out in the community until March 2027. 

Families are referred to Building Successful Families by Sheffield City Council’s Early Help Hub and via Early Help Assessments carried out with people already in touch with Peile House and other partners. By working directly with three delivery partners and their networks, Sheffield City Council are ensuring one point of contact locally for families accessing specialist support 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: “We are delighted to have been awarded the extension of this contract. Through Building Successful Families, we partner with agencies, service providers and community groups across Sheffield to deliver targeted interventions for families with complex challenges. We take a ‘whole family’ approach, and this 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. This is central to our charity's wider mission, supporting women children and families to create better futures.”  

YWCA Yorkshire’s targeted support to disadvantaged 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. 

Learn more here, including how to make a referral for a Sheffield family: https://www.ywcayorkshire.org.uk/bsf