The first annual report for the national evaluation of A Better Start

Boddy, Janet; Munro, Gayle; Woodbridge, Hannah; Basharat, Maha; Scott, Molly; McKaskill, Mary; Fugard, Andi; MacNaboe, Lana; Hammelsbeck, Rebekka; Garwood, Eliza; Dey, Monica; Young, Beth; Hoffmann, Mahima; Hampden-Thompson, Gillian; Lacey, Alison

Abstract

A Better Start (ABS) is the ten-year (2015-2025), £215 million programme set-up by The National Lottery Community Fund (The Fund), the largest funder of community activity in the UK. Five ABS partnerships based in Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham, and Southend-on-Sea are supporting families to give their babies and very young children the best possible start in life. Working with local parents, ABS partnerships are developing and testing ways to improve their children’s diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and speech, language, and communication. The work of the programme is grounded in scientific evidence and research. ABS is also place-based and working to enable systems change. It aims to improve the way that organisations work together and with families to shift attitudes and spending towards preventing problems that can start in early life. ABS is one of five major programmes set up by The Fund to test and learn from new approaches to designing services which aim to make people’s lives healthier and happier. Learning and evidence from ABS enables The Fund to inform local and national policy and practice initiatives addressing early childhood development.


This is the first of four annual reports that will be published as part of the national evaluation of ABS. As the national evaluation will run alongside the programme until 2025, findings in this report are interim and evidence of the impact of ABS will build as the evaluation progresses. Analysis will continue after the ABS programme comes to an end and the final evaluation report will be published in 2026.
The purpose of this report is to inform audiences of the national evaluation, evaluation activity delivered in 2022, findings to date, and next steps.

Citation

Boddy, J., Munro, G., Woodbridge, H., Basharat, M., Scott, M., McKaskill, M., Fugard, A., MacNaboe, L., Hammelsbeck, R., Garwood, E., Dey, M., Young, B., Hoffmann, M., Hampden-Thompson, G., & Lacey, A. (2023). The first annual report for the national evaluation of A Better Start. The National Lottery Community Fund

• Report Type: Project Report
• Online Publication Date: May 11, 2023
• Publication Date: May 11, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 27, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 28, 2025
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3550617
• Publisher URL: https://natcen.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2023-05/ABS%20First%20Annual%20Report_Final%20for%20publication.pdf