Start for Life programme saved

We are delighted that last week’s ‘Plan for Change’ announcement by Sir Keir Starmer, brings a commitment to the Start for Life programme for another year, and a focus on babies. 

In the Plan, as part of its opportunity mission, the government has set out ‘giving children the best start in life’ as a main priority. The plan promises to: “Strengthen and join up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood.  This includes continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes.” This is key, because services were concerned that no funding was planned beyond 1 April 2025.

Both the Parent-Infant Foundation and the First 1001 Days Movement have campaigned hard all year for the continuation of Start for Life funding. We are very grateful for the support of the many MPs and Peers who backed our ‘Speak up for babies’ campaign back in the summer.

Thanks also to all the parent-infant teams who took part in the campaign, and helped explain to MPs the importance of parent-infant relationships.

In October, backed by Home-Start UK, the National Children’s Bureau and the Breastfeeding Alliance, we wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to extend the Start for Life programme.  

Although the Budget pledged £69 million for Family Hubs, there was no mention of Start for Life in the Budget.  So we were thrilled to see babies are a focus of the government’s new plan.  £57 million has been ear-marked for Start for Life services for the next financial year.  This is crucial funding to support new parent-infant relationship services, as well as perinatal and breastfeeding support.

We’re very pleased to see the programme continue at the current level until at least April 2026. However, our work doesn’t end here. We will continue to urge government to roll-out the programme beyond the 75 local authorities that currently receive funding. Babies need to be able to access services in every part of England, and the NHS needs to do its bit also to provide specialist and targeted services that support the most vulnerable babies.