Sefton Family Life Toolkit opens support in one place

Sefton families can now use a new online Family Life Toolkit to find local advice, book support sessions and access guidance for children and young people without searching across several separate services.

The Sefton Family Life Toolkit has been launched as a virtual family hub for parents, carers, children, young people, professionals and community partners. It brings together council-backed information on family support, education, health, parenting and SEND in one digital portal.

Family support gathered into one local hub

The toolkit is designed to help residents find the right support earlier, whether they are looking for help with early years, school-age children, parenting questions or additional needs.

Families can use the portal to browse information on local services and follow personalised routes through the site. Those routes are intended to point users toward relevant guidance, reminders and support options at the stage when they may need them.

For residents who are unsure where to start, the practical value is that several strands of family support are grouped together rather than split across different webpages or booking systems.

Parents, carers and young people can use it directly

The Family Life Toolkit is aimed at households across Sefton, including parents and carers who need reliable advice and young people looking for support in their own right.

It also gives professionals and community partners a single place to signpost families, which may help schools, health teams and voluntary groups direct residents to the same source of local information.

The portal includes multiple language options and can adapt to the default language settings on a user’s device. That should make it easier for families who prefer to read guidance in another language to use the service without first searching for translation options.

Bookings and live chat built into the service

A key feature is the integrated booking system. Families can browse and book local services, activities and support sessions directly through the platform.

The toolkit also includes a live chat function. Sefton Council says responses are drawn from the portal’s own content rather than outside sources, so users receive answers based on the information held within the service.

That matters for practical questions where accuracy is important, such as finding the correct support route, checking what type of help is available or understanding which local service may be relevant.

Voice search and app access for easier use

Residents can use an audio-enabled search option to speak into the platform and find information more quickly. This may help users who prefer voice navigation or who have accessibility needs that make typed searches harder.

Families can also download the Sefton Family Life Toolkit as an app on a smartphone or tablet. The app version is intended to make the service easier to use regularly and keep support information available while families are away from a desktop computer.

Cllr Diane Roscoe, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, said the portal gives families “clear, reliable and easy-to-access information” and is intended to help them get support “more quickly and confidently”.

The toolkit is available now through Sefton Council’s Family Life Toolkit portal.

Source: Sefton Council