Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life Strategy: Areas of focus

Better support for families 

• A new Best Start Family Service will bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, this will work through a new Best Start Family Hubs Programme which draws on what has worked with Sure Start and the existing Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.
• All local authorities will receive funding to support families in their areas. Local authorities not currently in receipt of central government funding for Family Hubs will receive a grant this financial year. The new Best Start funding commences from April 2026 with £500m up to 2028.
• Best Start Family Hubs are at the centre of ensuring joined up services in the community.
  • Be open to all, but located in disadvantaged areas.
  • Prioritise early years and targeted services for young families.
  • Bring together health, education, nurseries, childminders, libraries, and voluntary sector services.

Best Start Family Hubs will:

Core family offer

• Clear local parent pathway from conception to early years.
• Focus on evidence-based parenting and home learning programmes.
• Funding rules to ensure investment in high-quality parenting support.

Support for families with additional needs

• Each hub will have a trained professional to support parents of children with additional needs.

Parent engagement

• Parent panels to shape local hub services.
• Funded outreach work to engage families who don’t typically access services.

Health & development

• Neighbourhood Health Services to partner with hubs, schools, nurseries, and colleges to support child health and development.

Information & Guidance

• Launch of Best Start in Life campaign (Autumn), guiding parents from pregnancy to school age.
• Followed by a Best Start digital parenting hub, eventually linking to ‘My Children’ in the NHS App.

System improvements

• Improve childcare eligibility checks for parents.
• Strengthen early childhood health services.
• Drive local service improvements to better meet family needs.

More accessible early education and childcare

• From Sept 2025, eligible working families could access up to 30 hours of funded childcare per week from the term after their child turns 9 months until school start.
• Targeted engagement with low-uptake areas via Best Start Family Hubs; improved coordination between Universal Credit childcare and funded hours.

Simplifying the system

• A pledge to review and simplify childcare entitlements, funding distribution, and admin processes to help providers and parents.
• Focus on improving outcomes for children from low-income families.
• Monthly payments and collaboration with Jobcentre Plus to recruit more childminders.

Increasing availability

• Continued rollout of nurseries in schools as per Labour’s manifesto.
• Fairer Funding: EYPP increased by 45% (April 2025); full review of EY funding and national formula by Summer 2026.

SEND support

• More funding for providers to support children with SEND.
• Reforms to SEND funding allocation, with additional LA funding in 2026/27 alongside SEN Inclusion Fund (SENIF).

Strengthening the system

• Pilot models to support high-quality provider groupings while maintaining individuality.
• Explore shared back-office functions to reduce overheads.
• Monitor financial sustainability and increase transparency of large providers.
• Explore Impact Economy opportunities: work with charities, social enterprises, and social investors to expand funding access (e.g. social investment funds).

Quality assurance & inspection

• From April 2026, Ofsted will inspect:
  • All new EY providers within 18 months.
  • All providers at least once every 4 years (currently 6).
• Additional investment in Ofsted for better training, quality assurance, and reporting on large nursery chains.
• Introduction of EY-specific report cards.
• Stronger Practice Hubs to offer tailored post-inspection support (e.g. coaching, expert guidance).

Local Authority role

• Develop market shaping guidance for LAs (similar to adult social care).
• Encourage LAs to actively shape local EY markets and explore new powers to ensure sufficient places and diverse options for families.

Improving quality in early years including reception

• More funded places on EY initial teacher training courses over the next 3 years, aiming to more than double by 2028.
• Launch a degree-level apprenticeship pathway for EY teachers, with financial support for employers.
• Engage with the sector to review training routes, course content, and professional status—working towards parity with other teaching roles.
• Provide targeted financial support to attract and retain EY teachers in nurseries serving disadvantaged communities.

Supporting and growing a skilled EY workforce

• Continue the ‘Do Something Big’ campaign, pilot a new applicant guidance service, and expand the online qualifications checker.
• Collaborate with mayoral strategic authorities to create clear pathways into the EY workforce.
• Co-design a new professional register with the sector to raise the profession’s value, promote CPD, and recognise early educators.
• Explore ways to increase flexible working and reduce workloads, similar to changes in schools.
• Introduce a faster assessment-only route for experienced staff to gain Level 3 recognition.
• Simplify the range of EY qualifications available.

Training & CPD enhancements

• Extend free online child development training.
• Enhance the NPQ for headship with more EY content.
• Develop new training for reception class teachers and setting leaders.
• Fund more places on the NPQ in EY Leadership.

Inclusion & SEN support

• Support EY educators and SENCOs to embed inclusive practice across teaching and qualifications.
• Improve data sharing and links with the Best Start Family Service.

Maths & language development

• Fund more EY settings to join the Maths Champions programme.
• Introduce early maths and language leads in local areas for on-the-job training.
• Test new teaching approaches in early maths, communication, language, and PSED with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

Funding & evaluation

• Provide additional funding to extend EYPP in high-need areas and test different usage approaches.
• Work with the EEF to evaluate impact of testing new approaches to early maths, communication and language, and personal, social and emotional development.

Stronger practice & school transitions

• Expand EY Stronger Practice Hubs from 18 to 36.
• Fund partnerships between schools and nurseries to improve transitions, share best practice, and support home learning.

Reception year focus

• Make Reception Year a national priority for RISE teams:
  • Universal offer: Access to EYFSP data and training.
  • Enhanced offer: Specialist support via English and Maths hubs.
  • Intensive offer: More targeted assistance from hubs.
• All reception classes to benefit from fully funded proven programmes like NELI.
• Reception staff to access specialist early language leads.
• Publish new EYFSP assessment guidance.
• Improve schools’ access to data and analysis on children’s development and provide training.

The Government has announced the roll out of funding to all local authority areas. For local authorities receiving funding for the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme or Family Hubs Transformation Fund, delivery expectations for the rest of this financial year will remain as they are set out in the programme guidance for 2025-26. From April 2026, all local authorities will receive funding to deliver the new Best Start Family Hubs programme, which will build upon the work undertaken through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, Family Hubs Transformation Fund, and 2025-26 Best Start Family Hubs Development Grant. 

Local authorities who were not previously in receipt of funding will have been sent information regarding the plan for funding for the rest of this (25/26) financial year the completion of a Best Start Plan, and in preparation for further development from 2026. 

There is an expectation that there is investment into Evidence Based Home Learning Environments that prioritise 3 and 4 year olds initially. The Government will produce a menu of evidence-based interventions. 

Best Start Family Hubs will be open to the 0–19 age range (or up to 25 for those with SEND), with a particular focus on early years, recognising the Plan for Change’s ambition to give every child the best start in life and improve child outcomes by age 5.

Further guidance will be published shortly setting out the expectations in Best Start Family Hubs. 

The Department for Education wrote out to all local authorities confirming a specific numerical target for each area on the Good Level of Development. The department followed the process for setting targets for local authorities that is set out in the Local Authority Targets (Well-being of Young Children) Regulations 2007. In accordance with the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are under a duty to then act in a manner best calculated to secure that such targets are met.

The statutory target for local authorities will be considered “achieved” if the following two conditions are met:

1. The proportion of children in the LA achieving a Good Level of Development at the end of the 2027/28 academic year is at least [as set by Department for Education]; and

2. Disadvantaged children have benefitted at least equally from this improvement; that is, that the proportion of children eligible[i] for Free School Meals (FSM) and achieving a Good Level of Development at the end of the 2027/28 academic year is at least [Y%]. This target is individual to each local authority. 

This is the minimum expectation from Government. Local authorities must aim to reduce the gap between children eligible for FSM and non-FSM eligible children. The data used to assess this target is expected to be published in November 2028. The target methodology takes the national target as its starting point; and requires that all areas increase GLD from their 2023/24 baseline. In most cases the target is a c.9 percentage point increase by 2027/28 (average of 3 percentage points per annum from 2025/26 - 2027/28). However, every local authority will be expected to achieve a GLD of at least 70% by 2027/28. 

In 2023/24, only 51.5% of children eligible for free school meals (FSM) achieved a GLD, compared to 71.5% of those not eligible. The gap is even more pronounced for children with special educational needs: just 19.7% reached a GLD, compared to 75.6% of children without such needs.

The strategy sets out that local authorities will be tasked with developing ambitious Best Start local plans to achieve the 2028 target, working in partnership with Government. 

These plans should identify local needs and gaps in provision and join up across systems and sectors to improve GLD in the council area. The expectation is that councils can incorporate outputs and activity from strategic planning that are undertaking for other priorities related to improving child outcomes and development. Such as, draft local delivery plans for the Families First Partnership programme and work underway as part of this, including outputs from any population needs assessments, and/or local strategies and initiatives to improve child health and educational outcomes. 

The Best Start local plan should set out the approach for achieving the 2028 target and ensuring every child benefits from interventions to improve GLD and wherever possible these are targeted towards children least likely to achieve GLD. The plan should set out how the council will target resources to reduce the gaps that exist in GLD attainment. The Government has also highlighted their expectation that activity is referenced on actions being taken forward to increase the uptake and quality of 2-2 ½ year reviews.

Councils’ Best Start local plan can build on existing strategic planning materials, or revisions to existing Children and Young People’s plans where they are in place, or other local strategies. However, it must be clear to all partners across health and education (including nurseries, childminders, schools, health services, local voluntary and community groups) and the department what the plan is for meeting your target and how partners can contribute to achieving it. The plan should be developed or updated in time to inform your local authority’s business planning process for FY 26-27 and published on your website no later than 31 March 2026.

Families First for Children 

The Families First for Children is intended to rebalance the children’s social care system based on previous Government reviews and strategies which sets out the vision for a reformed system. The Family First for Children Programme Guidance (March 2025) has been produced to support safeguarding partners to implement Family Help and multi-agency child protection reforms and make greater use of Family Group Decision Making. There is an expectation that the programme funding explores targeted early help, child in need and child protection but there is a strong expectation that it links with support delivered through family hubs, youth services, health and housing provision.  

Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England

On 3 July 2025, the Government launched its 10-Year Health Plan for England, setting out a long-term vision to improve health outcomes and reduce inequalities. A central commitment is to ensure every child has the best start in life, building on the legacy of Sure Start, Family Hubs and Start for Life. The plan includes extending Start for Life services across the full conception to age five range, with additional health visiting and speech and language support. It also commits to aligning Start for Life with the expansion of Family Hubs to ensure support reaches all communities. Budget allocations for Start for Life / health elements of the programme are still being finalised within the Department of Health and Social Care.

The plan marks a significant shift in the health system, moving from hospital-based care to community and preventative models, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. It proposes a new operating model focused on devolution, transparency, and patient choice, alongside a new workforce model that encourages frontline innovation. The creation of Neighbourhood Health Services is central to this transformation, with local authorities expected to co-develop tailored health plans and work closely with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to align health planning with broader social and economic strategies.

Health system restructuring 

Major structural changes are underway across the health system. NHS England will be abolished and merged back into the Department of Health and Social Care. ICBs have been instructed to reduce their running and programme costs by 50 per cent, prompting widespread clustering arrangements across most regions. These clusters involve joint committees, shared teams, and senior appointments, and may evolve into formal mergers from April 2026, subject to ministerial approval. The scale of cost reductions has led to forecasts of up to £1 billion in redundancy costs and thousands of job losses, with some ICBs reporting significant delays due to funding uncertainty. 

Cuts to ICB budgets could in some areas lead to potentially shifting more responsibilities and costs onto councils through increased demand, particularly where reductions in services such as continuing healthcare or mental health support may result in greater reliance on already stretched local authority provision. 

Young Futures Programme 

Announced as part of the Safer Streets Mission, the Young Futures Programme brings together a focus on youth hubs and prevention partnerships. The youth hubs are expected to be young people focused services that reduce young people’s involvement in crime and improve their mental health. 

The national youth strategy

Further information will be provided when this is published

The education white paper

Further information will be provided when this is published