Integrating Financial Wellbeing Support into Parenting Programmes: Practitioner Perspectives on Acceptability and Feasibility

UK child poverty rates are high, affecting almost a third of children and ranking among the worst in Western Europe. The detrimental effects of poverty and stressors associated with low income on child health, wellbeing and parenting are well-documented. While early intervention often targets low-income families, support typically focuses on parenting skills or inter-parental relationships and overlooks families’ material realities. This has led to calls for practice-based interventions, including parenting programmes, to attend more explicitly to families’ economic circumstances. One underexplored approach is to integrate financial wellbeing support (FWbS) into parenting provision. Drawing on focus groups with Parenting Practitioners, Debt and Welfare Advisors and Programme Developers- professionals involved in designing or delivering FWbS and parenting support- this paper explores stakeholder views on the acceptability and feasibility of integrating FWbS into parenting programmes. Perceived acceptability was shaped by three interlinked factors: (1) structural and contextual fit with Family Hub priorities; (2) framing, stigma, and targeting, including the need to avoid deficit-based approaches; and (3) programme design and delivery, encompassing accessibility, sequencing, and language. Perceived feasibility was more contested; concerns surrounded embedding FWbS into existing programme models, uncertainties around practitioner roles and training, and limited capacity for delivering complex financial guidance. Key facilitators included the role of trusted Parenting Practitioners in mediating sensitive conversations and strong collaboration between parenting and financial services. Findings offer insight into the challenges and opportunities of integrating FWbS into parenting programmes and suggest that relational dynamics- particularly trust, stigma, and collaboration- are central to effective implementation.