We’re excited to share the publication of our Annual Impact Report for 2025-26, which reflects a year of both significant challenge and meaningful progress for NCB.
At a time of rising need, widening inequalities and increasing pressure on the services that children, young people and families rely on, our focus has remained clear: improving systems through evidence, lived experience and support for practitioners.
This year's report highlights three strengths that define our work:
✅Breadth – working across local practice, national policy, research and workforce development to connect insight with action.
✅Depth – ensuring that the voices of children, young people, families and adults with lived experience are at the heart of policy, practice and service design.
✅Sustained expertise – building on more than 60 years of experience to influence change, support professionals and respond to emerging challenges with confidence.
Across 2025/26, we continued to push boundaries by looking beyond childhood itself, strengthening support for transitions to adulthood, while advancing evidence-informed practice and helping systems work better across the life course.
Our Annual Impact Report breaks down our achievements in 2025-26 into our six strategic goals.
Hop around this overview of the report by clicking on the links below.
Goal 1
Amplifying the voices of children, young people, families, and adults with lived experience
One of the things we're most proud of in our 2025/26 Annual Impact Report is how we continued to put the voices of children, young people and families at the heart of change.
At NCB, we believe that children and young people are experts in their own lives. Their experiences, perspectives and ideas make policy, practice and services stronger, more relevant and more effective.
Over the past year, we worked to ensure those voices influenced decisions at every level:
- Through FLARE, disabled young people helped shape national SEND reform, contributing directly to discussions with the Department for Education and supporting engagement that enabled hundreds of young people across England to share their views on proposed changes.
- Members of the Young Anti-Bullying Alliance brought their lived experiences to Parliament and national stakeholders, helping to influence conversations about bullying and inclusion.
- Young NCB members contributed to the development of the National Youth Strategy, ensuring young people's priorities were heard by government.
- The Youth Voice Matters conference brought together more than 100 disabled children and young people to build confidence, develop leadership skills and engage directly with decision-makers on the future of SEND.
- Across Research in Practice and our wider participation work, we continued to embed lived experience into research, professional learning, policy development and service improvement.
In total, we involved 1248 children and young people and 535 parents and carers in shaping our work during the year.
Meaningful participation is not a nice-to-have. It is fundamental to creating better systems and better outcomes. Thank you to every child, young person, parent and carer who shared their experiences and expertise with us this year.
An illustration capturing just one of the many conversations taking place at the Youth Voice Matters conference.
Goal 2
Improving local systems
Our latest Annual Impact Report highlights the progress we've made in driving change in the local and regional systems that children and families rely on.
We know that many of the decisions that shape children's lives are made locally. That's why we work alongside councils, health partners, practitioners and communities to strengthen the systems that support children, young people and families every day.
During 2025/26, we delivered 222 system improvement activities, helping local areas apply evidence, share learning and develop sustainable solutions to complex challenges.
Some highlights include:
- Strengthening social care practice and leadership through Research in Practice, including the development of new principles and tools to tackle child exploitation, thousands of instances of tailored workforce support, and more than 30 system improvement events focused on safeguarding, supervision and leadership.
- Improving transitions to adulthood for disabled young people and those with SEND, supporting Islington's work to redesign pathways between children's and adult social care using evidence and stakeholder engagement.
- Supporting SENDIAS services across England through the Information, Advice and Support Services Network, helping local areas strengthen commissioning and funding arrangements while protecting the independence families rely on.
- Supporting marginalised parents, including growing the Supporting Parents Community of Practice and becoming the new home of the Working Together with Parents Network, helping professionals improve support for parents with learning disabilities and learning difficulties.
At the heart of all this work is a simple belief: lasting change happens when local systems are equipped with the evidence, partnerships and confidence to deliver better outcomes for children and families.
Thank you to all the local leaders, practitioners, parent carers and partners who have worked with us this year to turn that ambition into action.
A graphic of England, Wales and Northern Ireland highlighting some of our impact in different regions.
Goal 3
Driving change in national policy and legislation
This year, we strengthened our role as a trusted voice for children, young people and families, helping to shape national debates and influence policy across some of the most important issues facing society.
From SEND reform and children's social care to youth violence prevention and early years development, our evidence, research and insights into lived experience have informed change at the highest levels.
Highlights from 2025/26 include:
- Contributing 23 consultation responses, 64 policy briefings and 56 parliamentary evidence sessions, helping ensure children's needs remained high on the political agenda.
- Producing influential evidence for the Youth Endowment Fund Toolkit, including research showing the potential of targeted approaches to reduce youth violence and improve outcomes for young people.
- Supporting fairer funding for children's services through research for London Councils, helping shape future funding reforms and ensuring resources are targeted where need is greatest.
- Bringing lived experience directly into Parliament through evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee's inquiry on paternity and shared parental leave, ensuring the voices of babies, parents and families were heard.
- Developing evidence and practical insights to improve outcomes for children with SEND, looked-after children, and young people navigating transitions between services.
This progress reflects years of collaboration with children, young people, families, practitioners, researchers and policymakers. Together, we're helping to create policies that are grounded in evidence, informed by lived experience and focused on delivering better childhoods and brighter futures.
Goal 4
Generating evidence that counts
At NCB, we know that meaningful change starts with strong evidence. That's why, throughout 2025/26, we continued to generate and share high-quality research, bringing together data, professional expertise and lived experience to influence policy, improve practice and strengthen services.
This year, we produced 88 research and learning reports, helping decision-makers better understand what works and where action is needed most.
Some highlights include:
- Producing evidence reviews for the Youth Endowment Fund Toolkit, identifying effective approaches to preventing youth violence and improving outcomes for young people.
- Publishing new research through our What Works in SEND programme, including insights on co-production, service delivery and joint commissioning, helping local areas strengthen SEND systems and improve outcomes.
- Delivering major studies on issues ranging from school readiness and community cohesion to the long-term impact of the pandemic on children and young people's wellbeing.
- Leading research into reunification for children returning home from care, helping develop more consistent, evidence-informed approaches across the sector.
- Producing influential work on vulnerability, safeguarding, youth justice and transitions to adulthood, ensuring that emerging policy and practice are informed by robust evidence.
Evidence alone doesn't change lives. But when research is combined with lived experience and put into the hands of practitioners, policymakers and communities, it becomes a powerful force for change.
We're proud that our work continues to help shape better services, stronger systems and brighter futures for children and young people.
Goal 5
Making sure children, young people and adults have the workforce they need
Behind every positive outcome for a child or family is a skilled, confident and supported workforce. That's why workforce development remains a critical part of NCB's mission to improve the systems that children, young people and families rely on.
In 2025/26, we delivered 752 workforce development activities, equipping professionals across education, health, social care and SEND services with the knowledge, skills and confidence to drive improvement and deliver better outcomes.
Highlights included:
- Through Research in Practice, we provided 495 workforce development opportunities, reaching more than 5,000 learners across over 210 organisations, supporting evidence-informed practice in children's and adults' services.
- Our Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs programme continued to strengthen evidence-based practice nationwide, with learning cascading to over 10,000 early years settings and childminders.
- Through the RISE programme, we delivered regional training to strengthen understanding of inclusive social care practice and improve outcomes for disabled children and young people.
- Nearly 1,000 professionals took part in our national SEND workforce survey, helping shape a comprehensive programme of learning and development informed by workforce needs across health, education and social care.
- We supported schools through new disability inclusion training, refreshed mental health and wellbeing guidance, and anti-bullying programmes that helped create more inclusive and supportive learning environments.
Whether supporting social workers, teachers, SEND professionals, early years practitioners or system leaders, our goal remains the same: ensuring those who work with children and families have the skills, confidence and evidence they need to make a lasting difference.
Goal 6
Building respect and trust as a pioneering and high performing charity.
Creating lasting change for children and young people depends on more than great programmes and policy influence. It also requires trust, strong governance, an inclusive culture and a commitment to continuous improvement.
In 2025/26, NCB continued to invest in the foundations that enable us to deliver impact, now and into the future.
Highlights included:
- Strengthening our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, with dedicated DEI objectives across every team, anti-racism training for all staff, leadership development programmes and improved recruitment and decision-making processes.
- Achieving ISO 27001, ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 accreditation, demonstrating our commitment to information security, environmental responsibility and quality management.
- This year, we achieved 84 key articles in national and trade media, helping to raise awareness of the issues facing children and young people and amplifying the voices of those with lived experience.
- Launching a new safeguarding policy, staff training programme and Safeguarding Champions network to strengthen safeguarding practice across the organisation.
- Enhancing our public profile through national media coverage in outlets including The Guardian, The Times and BBC News, ensuring children's issues remained part of the national conversation.
- Working alongside care-experienced young people and others with lived experience to ensure their voices shaped our communications, public engagement and influencing activity.
As we navigate a changing and challenging environment, we remain committed to being a trusted, values-led organisation that combines evidence, lived experience and collaboration to drive meaningful change.
Together, we are building stronger foundations for better childhoods and brighter futures.