Our Best Start Local Plan 2026-29

Develop and promote a strong, universal and community-based support offer to improve child development outcomes

Why is this important? 

• families are able to access a wide range of free advice and support in their local community - central to our 'right help, right time' approach
• services are responsive to need, are shaped by local people and use a wide range of methods/formats to improve outcomes
• parents/carers are well-prepared for parenthood and participate in home learning from birth

Our progress in the last 12 to 24 months: 

• provided a comprehensive, partnership 'Healthy Babies' offer across our 9 Best Start Family Hubs, including support for parenting, infant feeding, perinatal mental health, parent infant relationship and home learning outcomes  
• a wide range of development opportunities available for babies and young children in Family Hub, Library and VCS settings - play, infant massage, music, crafts, sensory
• commissioned our local 0-19 provider (HDFT) to employ a specialist health visitor for perinatal mental health and an infant feeding peer support team
• commissioned a total of 6 VCS organisations to provide an enhanced family support offer in our communities of highest needs and for young parents, with a focus on support for parents/carers of children aged 0-5 years 
• published and promoted a joined-up 'Start For Life' offer across NHS Maternity, HDFT 0-19, Family Hub, Library and Registrar settings
• co-produced the Family Hub offer alongside our active 'Family Voice' Parent/Carer Panel

We will drive progress towards improved Best Start and GLD outcomes by: 

1. Developing our 'Healthy Babies' offer and updating the partnership menu of support available for parenting, perinatal mental health, parent infant relationships, infant feeding and home learning under consistent 'Best Start' branding. 
2. Increasing our frontline Family Hub workforce by 74 hours per week, including the capacity to provide more support in outreach locations. 
3. Integrating more SEND support into the Family Hub offer, including implementation of the dedicated SEND practitioner role. 
4. Consolidating our commissioned VCS organisations to provide an enhanced family support offer for young parents and in localities of highest need with a renewed focus on child development. 
5. Provide the Family Hubs workforce with specialist Early Years Service consultation on planning group sessions to maximise learning outcomes.  
6. Removing all fees for use of sensory facilities at our Family Hubs and improving the sensory and development items (linked to EYFS themes) for loan through our public Resource Library. 
7. Promoting the National Year of Reading (2026) and align this with local communication activities promoting literacy skills and explore a dual-registration process for our Family Hubs and Library membership. 
8. Introducing the role of 'Best Start Champion' by utilising volunteers from our 'Family Voice' Parent/Carer Panels. 
9. Providing the 'Starting Reception' and 'Potty Training Guide' from Kindred 2, including online resources and hard-copy materials, to local families and early years settings.  

We will measure this by: 

• Best Start Family Hub registration and engagement data
• qualitative feedback from Family Voice Parent/Carer Panels
• performance reports received from commissioned VCS providers, including engagement data and qualitative case studies