The Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs are a central pillar in the government's strategy to give every child the best start in life.
Introduced in 2022, this Department for Education (DfE) programme is supported by evidence partner the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and delivery partner the National Children’s Bureau (NCB).
Each Early Years Stronger Practice Hub brings together up to five partners, all of whom are early years providers from across the sector (whether private, voluntary or school-based nurseries or childminders). They provide support and advice to improve quality in early years settings by sharing good practice and offering evidence-informed professional development.
There are 18 Hubs currently, two in each of the government office regions of England, and July 2025, the government announced that the programme would receive funding for three more years from March 2026, with the aim that the number of Hubs will be doubled.
An independent evaluation carried out by IFF Research in 2025 concluded that this peer-led model of support was both responsive and inclusive and effective working relationships between the Hubs and NCB and EEF were a key driver of the programme's success.
Its review found nine out of ten settings that engaged with their local Hub reported the programme activities were ‘high quality’ and three quarters of settings in more deprived areas had got involved with three or more types of Hub activity.
We wanted to capture a flavour of the successes and impact of the Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs programme to share learnings with the sector and to encourage early education and childcare practitioners who haven't done so already to seek out their local Hub.
We spoke to leaders from four Hubs, as well as two of the NCB team responsible for leading the delivery of the programme on behalf of DfE as well as some of practitioners who have benefited from its support.
The result is the Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs podcast which you can listen to here:
For more information about the Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs programme visit https://www.strongerpracticehubs.org.uk or email [email protected]