Delivering the Best Start in Life plan
Delivering the Best Start in Life plan
Action plan structure
Cumberland’s Best Start in Life Strategic Plan has been designed to complement, not duplicate, existing partnership arrangements. Senior Leaders asked for a structure that strengthens alignment across the system, and the partnership groups responsible for delivering the plan are shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Cumberland’s partnerships for delivering of the Best Start in Life. A diagram showing key partnerships in Cumberland that contribute to delivering the Best Start in Life plan, including strategic, operational and multi‑agency groups.
Action plans
SMART action plans within the overarching strategy set out the specific steps that will lead to improved outcomes for children in Cumberland. These outcomes include:
- improved levels of personal and social development at ages 2 and 5
- increased take up of Healthy Child Programme reviews
- improved good level of development (GLD) at EYFS, aiming for 74.2%, including 56.6% for children facing disadvantage
- sufficient, accessible childcare and a thriving early years workforce
- children with SEND making good progress, including in emotional wellbeing
- improved health outcomes such as reduced tooth decay and obesity, and increased breastfeeding and toileting independence
- fewer children aged 0 to 4 on a Child Protection Plan
- increased involvement of children and families in service design and co‑production
A list of these action plans and their lines of reporting are set out below:
| Action plan | Owner | Reporting to |
|---|---|---|
| Priority 1 – expand and improve family support through a high‑quality Best Start in Life offer | BSIL Strategic Lead and Public Health CYP Lead | BSIL Strategic Group |
| Cumberland’s action plan to increase the 2 to 2.5‑year developmental assessment uptake | Public Health CYP Lead | OHID |
| Priority 2 – expand and improve access to early education and childcare | Early Years Sufficiency Manager | BSIL Strategic Group |
| Cumberland’s early years workforce recruitment and retention solutions group action plan | BSIL Strategic Lead | BSIL Strategic Group |
| Priority 3 – improve quality of provision in early years settings and schools | BSIL Strategic Lead and Learning Improvement / Early Years Manager | BSIL Strategic Group |
| Cumberland’s action plan for early years speech, language and communication | BSIL Strategic Lead and SALT Clinical Lead | BSIL Strategic Group |
Best Start in Life Delivery Grant funding and accountability
Best Start in Life Delivery Grant funding and accountability
The Department for Education has set out clear expectations for early years funding streams and how they should be used to support system transformation. This includes the Best Start Family Hubs Delivery Grant for 2026 to 2029, which requires Cumberland Council to deliver programmes that strengthen parenting for 3 and 4 year‑old children and improve the home learning environment. These programmes must use agreed, evidence‑based interventions.
How we will develop system-level changes through strengthened partnerships
The NESTA ‘Best Start in Life Playbook’ identifies workforce capacity, workforce capabilities and wider service integration as essential enablers for system transformation. In Cumberland, we will work towards whole system improvement by developing the key enablers set out below.
System enabler 1 - Data sharing
In Cumberland, the absence of a unified data‑sharing approach affects our ability to monitor attendance, assess implementation quality and understand child outcomes. A core enabler of the Best Start in Life strategy is the development of systems that allow child‑level data to be shared across maternity, health visiting, education and Family Hub services.
Work has begun to put information‑sharing agreements in place to support this integration. This will include strengthening data‑sharing processes for children transitioning into Reception.
System enabler 2 - Strengthened integration
National guidance highlights integration as central to achieving Best Start outcomes. Through our developing Best Start Family Hub model, we are working to strengthen partnerships across health, social care, education and the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector.
By improving access to integrated, relationship-centred services we will ensure families receive consistent messages about early childhood development and the home learning environment. This approach will reduce barriers to support by enabling families to connect with trusted workers. It will also create more opportunities for us to hear the voices and lived experiences of families from communities that are seldom heard.
The renewed strategy also enables stronger partnerships with libraries, parks, arts organisations and community hubs, helping families access home‑learning support and guidance on child development
System enabler 3 - Workforce training and development
Cumberland experiences ongoing staffing challenges across early years services due to rurality and competition from other industries. This creates risks for the delivery of the Best Start in Life strategy. A solution‑focused working group is exploring ways to improve recruitment and retention across the early years workforce
The strategy also relies on consistent professional development across the sector. Practitioners need opportunities to upskill, particularly in relation to early years safeguarding changes, SEND reforms and trauma‑informed practice. We will work across teams to develop joint training approaches that improve consistency and quality, including shared approaches to EYFS assessment.
Cumberland has limited specialist health services for under‑fives and is not one of the 75 areas receiving Healthy Babies funding. Despite this, we will ensure that support relating to infant feeding, perinatal mental health and parent‑infant relationships is delivered through a coordinated system‑wide partnership approach, underpinned by strengthened workforce development.
Test and learning / scaling delivery
Cumberland has already taken part in a ‘test and learn’ programme linked to Transformation Fund 1 (TF1), which supported our transition to Family Hubs and generated valuable practice‑based learning. This learning has directly informed the wider development and roll‑out of Family Hubs across Cumberland.
We continue to design local pilot projects that test and refine approaches, such as CPD coaching models to improve early years outcomes in settings and schools. We will seek further opportunities and partnerships to expand and strengthen our Best Start Family Hub offer and to continue improving outcomes for children and families.