Our strategic priorities
Our strategic prioritiesDevelopment of the Best Start in Life plan
In July 2025 the government shared its vision to “ensure every child in England has the best possible start, particularly in the early years (0–5)” by reducing inequalities, expanding family support, and improving access to high quality early education and childcare.
Work was already underway in Cumberland to review progress against the previous action plan and to develop a new strategic plan that would lead to greater system transformation in these areas.
Our Early Years partnership engaged fully with Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life and drew on local and national support through our links with the Local Government Association, NESTA and Blackpool Better Start.
Engagement took place with families through Cumberland’s Family Hubs and with stakeholders across education, local authority teams, health partners and voluntary sector organisations. Their contributions informed the creation of a single ‘Plan on a Page’ that sets out Cumberland’s priority areas (Appendix 1).
Our Best Start in Life plan
Our Cumberland plan is built around the three national priorities.
Priority 1 - Expanding family support
We will focus on:
- supporting parents and carers to provide a safe, secure home and build positive family relationships
- helping families engage with health professionals in their community
Priority 2 - Improving access to high quality early education and childcare
We will focus on:
- enabling families to access childcare that meets their child’s needs
- ensuring the early years workforce is valued, supported and able to attract and retain skilled educators
Priority 3 - Increasing the quality of early education
We will focus on:
- strengthening inclusive practice and integrated support so all children make good progress
- improving confidence and accuracy in early years assessment
- raising attainment across the EYFS, including for disadvantaged children through targeted improvement work
Cross-cutting priorities
Our plan is supported by a set of cross‑cutting priorities that apply to all areas of work. These include:
- greater engagement with marginalised and disadvantaged groups
- inclusive practice, belonging and anti-racism
- greater co-production with families
- digital access and enablement
- quality assessment
- environmental sustainability and climate-action planning
- meaningful data sharing and analysis
- contributing to keeping children safe, including responding early to neglect and trauma
The Best Start in Life Strategic Group reports directly to The Family Help and Prevention Partnership Board. It also provides regular updates to Cumberland’s Education Strategic Partnership.
Maintaining clear communication about how the plan is being implemented is essential. It ensures accountability across the partnership, supports shared delivery and helps identify areas where progress may need further action.
Governance and accountability
Governance and accountabilityThe Governance structure for the Best Start in Life Action Plan is shown below in Figure 1. It sets out how decision-making and reporting flows across our early years system.
Figure 1: Governance structure for Best Start in Life Cumberland. A diagram showing the governance structure and lines of reporting across Cumberland, including strategic groups and reporting pathways.
To ensure the plan is deliverable and aligned with wider work across Cumberland, all action plan development has been informed by the strategic planning groups shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Key Linked Strategies to Best Start in Life Cumberland. A diagram showing how key strategies and action plans in Cumberland align with and support the Best Start in Life priorities.
Accountability to families
A core commitment of the plan is to strengthen co‑production and increase the empowerment of families across our early years partnership. The communication, reporting and accountability arrangements shown in Figure 1 are designed to ensure this commitment is embedded across all areas of work.
Cumberland’s Best Start in Life Strategic Group includes representation from our Communications Team and is responsible for providing regular updates to families about the progress of the plan. We are committed to learning how to hear the voices of babies and young children more effectively and to continually improve participation and engagement. This includes creating more opportunities for families to contribute to meaningful co‑design of services and ensuring their lived experiences inform decision‑making across the partnership.