The Blackpool Story

So where did it all start? Blackpool was one of only five areas in England selected for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by The National Lottery Community Fund.

The A Better Start programme was designed to improve outcomes for pregnant women, babies and children and their families.

A ten-year fund of £215million (2015-2025) enabled five A Better Start partnerships to form in Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and Southend.

Each partnership had a focus of changing the way services are commissioned and delivered – involving parents as equal partners at every step – to give their babies and very young children the best possible start in life.

Happy boy in a sunny playground
Forest Ranger in the park doing a foot printing activity with babies

£45 million of the fund was allocated to Blackpool to test and learn new approaches to designing services, and delivering innovative approaches. Our team grasped the opportunity provided by A Better Start with two hands. Creating a real and lasting change for the town.

Blackpool brought together local communities, senior leaders and agencies from across public, private and voluntary sectors to create an environment of shared learning and mutual trust. The goal was to provide ground-breaking services antenatally and for babies and our youngest children, in communities where our families faced the greatest challenges.

Partner logos including NSPCC and Family Hubs

The difference we’ve made in Blackpool so far…

Blackpool Better Start has worked in partnership to develop more than 45 universal, early help and specialist services to meet the needs of families through pregnancy and the early years of childhood. All programmes have had a focus on improving diet and nutrition; social and emotional development; and speech, language and communication.

Year 9 Timeline
Some of the partnership’s key achievements include:

  • Over 8,500 children and families have been supported by one of Better Start’s services over the last 10 years. 52% of these families live in the most deprived households in Blackpool.

  • Between 2021 and 2023, Blackpool has seen the greatest increase in children reaching the expected level of development across all early learning goals on the EYFSP of the 10 most deprived local authorities (12.5% compared to 11.5% nationally).

  • Since 2019, all pre-schoolers have been supported through the ‘Getting Ready for School’ programme. This has grown each year and now there are 27 schools and 24 nurseries working alongside Better Start and Family Hubs.

  • Between 2020 – 2024, and the introduction of the HENRY infant feeding service, there has been a 10% increase in breastfeeding initiation across Blackpool. We have supported 1,178 people with infant feeding.

  • More Blackpool parents are waiting until their baby is older than 6 months before introducing complementary foods. Early weaning has decreased by 20% between 2018 and 2024.

  • Between 2015 – 2021, there has been a 11.3% decrease in the number of 5-year-olds with dental decay in Blackpool. Nationally, there has been a 1% increase.

  • Over 2,500 children and families have been helped by Blackpool’s joined up approach to Speech, Language and Communication. Only 6% have needed further support.

Monumental moments

When did we know we’d put Blackpool on the map for leading change in the early years?.

Health Visiting

Blackpool is the only place in England where families universally receive 8 Health Visiting contacts, including an antenatal and pre-school contact.

Community Connectors

Our innovative paid peer Community Connector service is just one of our services which has won a Children and Young People Now Award. In addition, our approaches to Parent Infant Relationships, Parks Development, and Speech and Language have won prestigious recognition and awards.

Conferences

Over the decade our Annual Conferences have increasingly attracted more national and international delegates. Year-on-year we are able to bring together leading subject experts in Early Years and professionals to share learning and best practices.

Collaboration

Cross-party think tanks and governmental groups have requested visits and round tables with our early child development experts to help shape their policies and interventions. This includes supporting thinking around Family Hubs and the Start for Life programme.

Raised profile

Impactful mobilisers such as The Prince and Princess of Wales, have visited our services and spoken with our families to support their goal of increasing national prioritisation of transforming early years systems to support all children.

How does this learning in Blackpool help all children?

What this monumental funding has enabled – making our research and findings so unique – is the rare opportunity to test and learn, to fail and succeed.

Our experience of changing lives for the better in Blackpool is based on a decade of research, knowledge and expertise of what works, and crucially what doesn’t, to really improve early childhood.

All of this allows us to support and enable other areas to realise quick wins, to build stronger foundations and achieve real and long term change.

What next for Blackpool?

As we use our independence and experience to lead change for all children in the UK, Blackpool will always be at the heart of our activity. Our team in Blackpool remains dedicated to supporting local families and leading innovative service design. As we continue to develop and sustain services in the town, our data and insights continue to inform us of what’s working – and crucially, what’s not – bolstering our research and knowledge of the early years system. We are committed to improving the lives of our youngest generation, by continuing to bring investment and opportunities into Blackpool. We are committed to local relevance and national influence.

Toddler looking through binoculars