Alexandra Landes
15 September 2017

2017 has been an eventful year so far for the childcare agenda. The pressure on local authorities to assist families in their local area with the information and support they need to access a wide variety of family services, including childcare, was increased this year by the rollout of 30 hours of childcare, tax free childcare and changes to universal credit.

With this in mind, attending the National Association of Family Information Services (NAFIS) Conference 2017, sponsored by Focus and Servelec HSC, is a great opportunity for local authorities to engage with government departments, hear from speakers who lead in policy areas for the early years and learn about innovative and effective ways to engage with families.

If you’re not yet as excited as I am about this year’s conference, here are my top five reasons why you’ll want to attend NAFIS Conference 2017:

Network and share best practice

NAFIS Conference is attended by representatives from Family Information Services (FIS) from all over the country. Network with fellow FIS staff, find out what they’re doing in their area and what you could potentially bring to your service through sharing of best practice with your colleagues.

Hear from government departments and get your questions answered

There will be representatives from the Department for Education, HMRC and Department for Work and Pensions at this years conference. If you have any questions on the rollout of 30 hours, tax free childcare or universal credit, the conference will be a great opportunity for you to engage with leading civil servants from these government departments and get your questions answered.

We also have speakers from Citizens Advice, who will be speaking about how to improve the customer advice journey, and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, who will share advice on providing families with good, valuable information to help them move out of poverty.

Gain insight from workshops and presentations

• Working Families are leading a workshop at this year’s conference, sharing the work they do supporting working parents.
• Contact (previously Contact a Family) are also leading a workshop, sharing their work on supporting families with disabled children.
• Dr Gillian Paull from Frontier Economics, will be presenting the findings from her Evaluation of Early Implementation of 30 Hours Free Childcare study. Dr Paull will detail how the areas where 30 hours was piloted reacted to the change in policy and how parents and providers adapted. The case studies will cover what made implementation successful to help your local authority better prepare as 30 hours is rolled out in your area.

Engage with the Family and Childcare Trust

We would love to use the conference as an opportunity to engage with FIS all over the country. As myself and Megan Jarvie (Head of Policy and Communications) are still quite new to NAFIS, it would be great for us to meet you all, hear about your experiences in your local area and share with you the work of Family and Childcare Trust. The more informed we are about your work and local experiences, the better placed we will be to lobby government on your behalf, and understand what FIS need to be successful.

Enjoy a range of exhibitors

We have more exhibitors than ever at this year’s NAFIS Conference. Our sponsors Servelec HSC and Focus will both be exhibiting their services. 

The conference will also be an opportunity for you to engage with the programmes that the Family and Childcare Trust offers, including our Parent Champions and Young Dads Collective teams, who will both be exhibiting at the conference. 

We will also have information stands from NSPCC who are going to share guidance and information on safeguarding. Department for Work and Pensions will also be holding an information stand, so if you have any questions on universal credit, this will be your opportunity to get your queries answered. 

NAFIS Conference 2017 will take place on Monday 9 October in London. If you haven’t yet booked your ticket for this year’s conference, you can book here.

For any further information please contact Alexandra Landes, Policy and Membership Assistance at alexandra@familyandchildcaretrust.org or on 020 7940 7521.