Between 2019 and 2025, NCB worked with all five A Better Start partnerships to develop a series of Insight Reports to help amplify the learning from the programme.
These publications include theory, contemporary research evidence, and case studies from each partnership to demonstrate how they are working in local areas to improve outcomes for children and families and cover a range of themes, including:
Place-based partnerships
This report, published in December 2024, focuses on how A Better Start services have at their core a place-based, partnership approach to best support families and communities. The report includes:
- What place-based partnership working means in practice.
- The relevant policy context and how/where place-based partnership approaches to service delivery fit.
- Examples of best practice in place-based partnership working, including the key elements of working that lead to success.
- An introduction to the partnership approach taken within A Better Start, setting the scene for detailed case studies of local practice across the five partnerships.
Prevention and early intervention
This report, published in August 2024, focuses on how ABS partnerships are using prevention and early intervention approaches to support families. The report includes:
- Definitions of prevention and early intervention, and how these approaches support children and families.
- Evidence for the importance of prevention and early intervention.
- The economic case for prevention and early intervention.
- Relevant policy developments, national provision, and key challenges and opportunities.
Pregnancy and antenatal care
This report, published in January 2024, focuses on how ABS partnerships support families during pregnancy and the early weeks after birth and includes:
- An overview of key evidence for the importance of pregnancy and the early weeks
- A summary of support available to families during this period
- An overview of key challenges, including inequalities in experiences
- Case studies demonstrating how ABS partnerships work within this context to support children from their very first moments
Workforce innovation
Published in September 2023, this report provides a summary of emerging evidence highlighting the learning from workforce innovation across the five partnerships, and discusses how A Better Start contributes to a skilled and knowledgeable early years workforce of the future.
It focuses on the wider early years workforce, including midwives, health visitors, early years professionals in early years settings, parent and/or infant mental health workers, speech, language and communication therapists, peer support workers and family support workers/early help practitioners.
Child development
This report, published in March 2023, shares the learning on how ABS partnerships have supported infant and early childhood development within their work, from the beginning of the programme, and through the challenges of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
It includes case studies from the five ABS partnerships highlighting their work to support child development across the three outcome areas.
Inequality for children and families
This report, published in August 2022, provides a summary of emerging evidence in the area of childhood inequalities, including:
- Addressing inequalities and supporting positive outcomes for all infants and their families.
- Current policy developments which target inequality.
- Case studies from across ABS partnerships, demonstrating how each is addressing inequality.
Data-informed decision-making
This report, published in 2022, outlines how A Better Start partnerships have used data and evidence to inform decisions about programme and service development and delivery.
This includes a focus on the challenges and barriers to data-informed decision-making, including the potential impact of COVID-19 on data collection and usage.
Trauma-informed practice
Published in 2021, this report provides a summary of emerging evidence in the area of childhood trauma and adversity, and shares the learning on how ABS partnerships have embedded an awareness of the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) within their work, and how they are supporting the development of trauma-informed practice, within and outside their partnerships.
It outlines how ABS programmes and services have a key role to play, both in addressing existing trauma and preventing further trauma, and have the potential to make a lasting difference.
Systems change
The second of two reports on systems change, this report, published in March 2021, focused on systems change through parent and community-led services, and includes:
- An overview of the theory and approaches to user engagement
- The evidence of the impact of co-production on people and services
- Case studies from across the ABS partnerships
The first, published in November 2019, provides:
- An overview of the literature on the definitions and components of systems change
- An outline of systems change within the ABS context, including some practical case studies
COVID-19 response
Focusing on the UK’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this report, published in September 2020, provides
- A review of the emerging evidence, including insights from across the ABS partnerships on the impact of COVID-19 on young children, families and communities
- A summary of the ways in which services have responded to meet changing needs