The Executive endorsed four Family Hub localities on 16 September: Community Vision, Castlecombe, Blenheim and Biggin Hill. The borough runs six centres today.

Bromley Council has named the four places that will anchor children’s services across the borough from April 2027. The Executive endorsed the plan on 16 September. The borough runs six children and family centres today.

The four Family Hub localities are Community Vision in Penge, Castlecombe in Mottingham, Blenheim in Orpington and Biggin Hill. They are set out in the strategic report attached to the council’s own report CEF26047 (Appendix A, Bromley Children and Families Reform Programme).

The council’s public page currently lists six centres, all run by the Bromley Children Project (children and family centres).

The six centres, and which four are named as hubs

Named as Family Hub localities:

  • Community Vision, Woodbine Grove, Penge, SE20 8UX
  • Castlecombe, Castlecombe Road, Mottingham, SE9 4AT
  • Blenheim, Blenheim Road, Orpington, BR6 9BH
  • Biggin Hill, Sunningvale Avenue, Biggin Hill, TN16 3TN

Open today, and not named as hubs:

  • Burnt Ash, Rangefield Road, Bromley, BR1 4QX
  • Cotmandene, 103 to 107 Cotmandene Crescent, St Paul’s Cray, Orpington, BR5 2RB

The report does not say Burnt Ash and Cotmandene will close, and nobody should read it that way. What it does say, in one line under property implications, is this: “Service delivery of the Four Family Hubs has been given due consideration as part of the council’s Operation Property Review.” It also says the hubs will work through “a blended model of co-located services, outreach delivery, satellite provision and digital access”, which leaves room for a building to serve a hub without being one.

The gap between four named hubs and six open centres is on the public record. It is the question to put to a ward councillor, and we will keep asking it here.

What actually changes in 2027

The reforms are national, driven by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 and the 2026 edition of Working Together to Safeguard Children. Councils are expected to have a reformed system running by April 2027. Bromley has chosen to deliver them as one programme rather than several.

The biggest change is to how social work teams are organised. Three services merge:

  • Early Intervention and Family Support
  • Referral and Assessment
  • Safeguarding and Care Planning

They become Family Help Teams, working to one assessment, one family plan and one lead practitioner where that is appropriate. Alongside them sit new Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams, which bring children’s social care, police, health and education into the same decision, and new Lead Child Protection Practitioner roles.

Staff will move. The report says services “will move from centralised locations to place-based locality teams with staff being matched to local service Hubs”, and that staff consultation will take place before full implementation in April 2027.

The Children and Families Hub stays as the single front door for referrals, and will gain a physical presence inside the Family Hub buildings.

Penge goes first

Community Vision in Penge has been chosen as Bromley’s first integrated Family Hub and its test-and-learn site. It builds on a Family Help pilot that started there in October 2025, and it will trial the whole system, from a drop-in group through to a child protection case, before the model is rolled out.

The programme runs in four phases: design and mobilisation, the test-and-learn phase at Community Vision, review and refinement, then borough-wide roll-out from April 2027.

The money line worth reading twice

The report does not ask for a penny. It says the transformation “will be supported by ring-fenced grant funding and delivered within the existing core budget, alongside the delivery of savings and efficiencies as services are streamlined”.

That last clause is doing a lot of work. The council’s own first budget check of this year forecast a £4.6m service overspend and general reserves falling to £16.9m by next March. A reorganisation expected to pay for itself while services merge and staff are rematched to localities is worth watching, and the Children, Education and Families committee is where it will surface.

How it was decided

  • 8 September 2026: the Children, Education and Families Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee considered report CEF26047 in pre-decision scrutiny and resolved “that the recommendations in the report be supported” (minutes).
  • 16 September 2026: the Executive endorsed Bromley’s approach and the phased implementation, including the Community Vision test-and-learn phase, and noted the requirement for borough-wide implementation by April 2027 (decisions, item 12).
  • The report records that call-in is applicable, so the decision can still be challenged by councillors through the scrutiny process.

What it means for you

If you use a children and family centre, nothing changes this week. Timetables, contacts and the online registration portal are unchanged on the council’s page, and each centre publishes a monthly activity timetable.

What to watch for over the next six months:

  • any consultation on children and family centre buildings, which would come through the Operational Property Review rather than through this report
  • the staff consultation the report promises before April 2027
  • the evaluation of the Penge test-and-learn site, which is what the final model will be built on

The contact for the programme named on the report is Aneesa Kaprie, CEF Transformation Lead, at the council. The chief officer is Janet Bailey, Director of Children, Education and Families. A new permanent director, Andrew Carter, was announced on 16 September and we covered that appointment here.

For families with additional needs, the borough’s support information now sits on a separate site, which we wrote about when it moved to bromleysend.org. A separate consultation on the Poverest Centre in Orpington runs until 18 October.

Frequently asked questions

Where are Bromley’s four Family Hubs?

Community Vision on Woodbine Grove in Penge, Castlecombe on Castlecombe Road in Mottingham, Blenheim on Blenheim Road in Orpington, and Biggin Hill on Sunningvale Avenue. They are named in Appendix A to the council’s report CEF26047.

Are Burnt Ash and Cotmandene children’s centres closing?

The report does not say so. It names four Family Hub localities and says hub delivery has been considered as part of the council’s Operational Property Review. Both centres are still listed and running on the council’s own page.

When does the new model start?

Borough-wide from April 2027. Community Vision in Penge runs first as the test-and-learn site, building on a Family Help pilot that started there in October 2025.

What is a Family Help Team?

The merger of three existing services: Early Intervention and Family Support, Referral and Assessment, and Safeguarding and Care Planning. The aim is one assessment, one family plan and one lead practitioner where that is appropriate.

Can the decision still be changed?

The report records that call-in is applicable, so councillors can refer the Executive’s decision back through the scrutiny process.

Sources