Giving every child the best start in life

In its manifesto for the 2024 general election the Labour Party set out five “national missions”, including a mission to “break down barriers to opportunity”.

In December 2024, the government published Plan for Change: Milestones for mission-led government, which provided more information on the five missions and set out milestones to achieve them. This included a milestone that 75% of five-year-olds will reach a good level of development in the early years foundation stage assessment by 2028. To help achieve this, the government said it would:

• continue the expansion of the 30 hours funded-childcare entitlement and support the creation of 3,000 school-based nurseries
• strengthen and join up family services to “improve support through pregnancy and early childhood”. The document said this would include “continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes to support early child health, parenting and home learning programmes” (p38).

Early years education and childcare

Research has highlighted the positive impact of high-quality early years education and care on children’s outcomes, in particular for children from financially disadvantaged families.

Currently, all three and four-year-olds in England are entitled to 570 hours of government-funded childcare a year. This is commonly taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year (and commonly referred to as “15 hours of free childcare”). Some two-year-olds are also eligible for the “15 hours of free childcare” if certain conditions are met, including if their parents receive specified benefits, they are a ‘looked-after’ child or they have an education, health and care plan.

In addition, some three and four-year-olds from working families qualify for 1,140 hours of funded childcare a year (inclusive of the 570 hours under the universal 15 hours entitlement). This is commonly taken as 30 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year (and often referred to “30 hours of free childcare”).

Further information on the childcare entitlements, including the eligibility criteria, is provided in the Library briefing on paying for childcare in England.

Extension of 30 hours entitlement

Following an announcement by the previous government at the Spring Budget 2023, the 30 hours entitlement for working families is in the process of being extended to eligible children aged from nine months to three years:

• Since April 2024, eligible two-year-olds have been able to access 15 hours a week (570 hours a year)
• Since September 2024, eligible children aged nine months to two years have been able to access 15 hours a week (570 hours a year)
• From September 2025, all eligible children aged nine months to three years will be able to access 30 hours a week (1,140 hours a year).

Further information on the extension, including the current government’s plans to create new school-based nurseries to meet the additional demand for places, is provided in the Library briefing: Expanding government-funded childcare in England.

Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme

At the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, the previous government announced it would provide £300 million “to transform services for parents, babies, carers, and children in half of local authorities in England” (PQ HL4636, 13 December 2021). The funding was to cover the period up to the end of March 2025.

In April 2022, the government confirmed that 75 local authorities in England with high levels of deprivation would receive a share of the £300 million as part of a Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. The funding comprised:

• £100 million for bespoke parent-infant relationship and perinatal mental health support
• £82 million to create a network of Family Hubs
• £50 million to establish breastfeeding support services
• £50 million to fund evidence-based parenting programmes
• £10 million to support local authorities to publish a clear ‘Start for Life offer’
• £10 million to trial start for life workforce models

Current government

The current government has highlighted the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme as a central feature of the support provided to pre-school children and families.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the Labour government announced £69 million of funding to continue delivery of family hubs in 2025/26. Of this, £53 million will be provided to the 75 local authorities consisting of:

• £22.4 million for the Family Hubs programme
• £20 million for parenting support services to enhance support for expectant parents and those with babies aged 0 to 2, focusing on promoting bonding and attachment
• £10.7 million for home learning environment services to train practitioners in evidence-based interventions, helping parents create rich home learning environments to support early child development

The remaining £16 million will be used support the delivery of family hubs.

On 10 January 2025, the government additionally announced that £57 million of start for life funding would be provided to the 75 local authorities involved in the programme in 2025/26. This will comprise:

• £36.5 million to improve mental health support for families and promote positive early relationships between babies and caregivers
• £18.5 million to improve infant feeding services and provide support with breastfeeding
• £2 million to ensure families can access and understand their local Start for Life services and support parents and carers to bring their valuable insight into service design

The funding is additional to the £69 million for family hubs.

At the Spending Review 2025, the government said it “will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme, working with parents to help give children the best start in life” (paras 3.17 and 5.26).

Best start for life strategy

On 7 July 2025, the government published a policy paper, Giving every child the best start in life, which set out its strategy for improving child development and meeting its target of 75% of five-year-olds having a good level of development by 2028. The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, made an oral statement outlining the strategy on the same day.

The policy document says it sets out the “first steps in a decade of renewal, building on the commitments made in the Plan for Change and laying the foundations for future reform” (p7).

The strategy will be supported by £1.5 billion of funding over the next three years and includes commitments covering family services and early years education.

Family services

The strategy says the government will provide £500 million between 2026 and 2029 to “rebuild crucial family services, under a new ‘Best Start’ umbrella” (p18).

Best Start Family Hubs will be created in every local authority in England. They will be open to all and based in disadvantaged areas. The hubs will have a “core offer for families, from conception through to the early years” (p20). The strategy says:

At these hubs, families can get professional help or simply meet other parents and make friends. They will offer fun programmes such as Stay and Play which will be open to all, health services, and advice on a range of issues from parenting tips to managing children's emotional needs. Parents will be able to join courses to boost their confidence and help their children with language and emotional development. And through these hubs, families will be connected to other local services such as healthcare, relationship advice, jobs and housing (p18).

The government estimates the expansion could reach 500,000 children. Local authorities not in receipt of funding for family hubs (see above) will receive some funding in 2025/26 so that services are up and running quickly when Best Start funding starts from April 2026 (p18).

The strategy additionally states:

• Each Best Start Family Hub will have a children and family services professional specifically trained in working to support parents of children with additional needs (p20).
• A new national Best Start digital service will be created. A Best Start in Life campaign, which will guide parents from pregnancy through to their child starting school and beyond, will be launched in the autumn. This will be followed by a Best Start digital parenting hub that will bring together advice and guidance in one place (pp18-20).
• The government will agree statutory targets with local authorities on improving child development, with local authorities required to develop Best Start local plans (p22).
• The government will strengthen health services, including by improving maternity care, strengthening health visiting services, increasing access to vaccinations and taking steps to reduce tooth decay in children (pp21-22).

Early Education and Childcare

The strategy states that “high-quality early education and childcare boosts children’s life chances and enables parents to work” (p26).

The strategy outlines the planned expansion of the 30 hours childcare entitlement and the government’s commitment to create new school-based nurseries (see above).

Other commitments in the strategy related to early education and childcare include that the government will:

• work with local authorities to increase take-up of the 15 hours entitlements for two, three and four-year-olds (p30)
• look across the system of early education and childcare support to make it simpler, improve access, and improve outcomes for children from low-income families (p30)
• increase the funding available for early years providers to support children with SEND. For 2026/27, the additional funding will be for local authorities to distribute to providers alongside existing SEN inclusion funding (p32)
• provide Ofsted with funding to increase the frequency of early years inspections and improve their quality (p34)

The strategy also sets out plans aimed at improving the quality of early years education and childcare, including by investing in training and qualifications for early years staff. £400 million will be provided over the next three years. The strategy says the government will:

• create more training places and offer financial incentives to attract early years teachers to work in nurseries in the most disadvantaged areas (pp40-41). The press release accompanying the strategy said early years teachers will be offered tax-free payments of £4,500 to work in the most disadvantaged areas.
• introduce a professional register for the early years workforce and develop a career framework to support career progression (p42).
• provide additional funding from 2026/27 to extend the Early Years Pupil Premium in areas most in need (p44).

Reaction

The Best Start for Life strategy was broadly welcomed by stakeholders, including the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, the National Children’s Bureau, and the Early Years Alliance. However, the need for sufficient long-term funding was also highlighted.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the strategy was a “welcome first step” and contained “a collection of generally sensible but relatively small changes”. It noted, however, that spending on the extension of the 30 hours childcare entitlement could reach £5 billion a year by 2028/29, compared to £500 million for the strategy. It added:

This is particularly noteworthy because new childcare entitlements will do very little to directly address inequalities in children’s development. Prioritising childcare support to working parents may well be a smart move for growth, but it means the lion’s share of the early years budget isn’t directly aimed at the opportunity mission. The strategy doesn’t much change that underlying picture.

The IFS said the principle behind extending family hubs was sound, but it “is not – yet – a “new Sure Start”. It added:

Even with an extra £150 million a year, spending on integrated early years services today will be less than a third as high as peak spending on Sure Start. And Family Hubs are meant to serve children up to age 19, not just age 4.