Local Authorities

Letterbox Club parcels can inspire a love of reading and engagement with numeracy for vulnerable children in your area. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about the programme:

How are children selected for Letterbox Club?

Each local authority decides which children they will register to be members of Letterbox Club. Local authorities can enrol as few or as many children as they wish. This has varied depending on individual capacity and budget to run the programme.

As well as children who are looked-after, the programme is also suitable for other children who would benefit, such as those on the edge of care or as part of post-adoption support. Find out more about the parcels.

How much administration is required?

Participating local authorities can choose between the following delivery arrangements:

• Parcels are delivered to a local authority address for them to post out to each child, (usually monthly),
• Parcels are given out by the local authority to the children that they have enrolled in school,
• Parcels are delivered directly from BookTrust’s warehouse to the child’s foster placement. There is a charge for postage.

We recommend that each local authority identifies a member of staff to coordinate the programme, who, depending on the chosen delivery model, will carry out tasks such as:

• Addressing each parcel to the child at their current home address
• Posting or giving out the parcels each month
• Updating the data and sending the delivery information to BookTrust’s warehouse via secure data transfer.

To the reduce the amount of admin, the child letters have been inserted at the warehouse.

• If you would still like to personalise the child letters, you can remove them from the parcels and add the children's names before you post or give them out to the children.
• Where a Virtual School wishes to purchase Letterbox Club but does not the capacity to administer the programme, staff from other departments have helped to send out the parcels. E.g. through the Library Service.

When are the parcels delivered?

• If as a local authority, you are posting or giving out the parcels yourselves, Letterbox Club parcels are usually delivered to your offices in six, monthly batches - depending on your storage capacity.
• If as a local authority, you choose to have the parcels delivered directly from the warehouse, this would again usually be in six, monthly deliveries.

If you need further assistance please email us at: [email protected] or call us on 020 7801 8805

Letterbox Club research and evaluation

Research and Evaluation is an important part of the Letterbox Club. A number of evaluations have been conducted to look at the impact of the programme and we continue to evaluate the Letterbox Club across the UK. Surveys and feedback forms are also available for Letterbox coordinators to use with children and carers taking part.

Read Letterbox Club evaluation reports here