Our Work in England

The continuing fall-out from the Covid-19 pandemic and the escalating cost-of-living crisis continues to bite deep for children experiencing poverty. 

That’s why, across England, we are working with families and local partners to catalyse change and facilitate new approaches to give children the best possible start in life. 

There isn’t one simple solution that will address such big challenges. Instead, we follow a systems-change approach, working in and with communities across the country to understand the challenges they face and opportunities for change. 

Our projects, stretching from North to South, bring together nurseries, schools, local councils, health services, families and more to design new ways to narrow the gap between children in poverty and their better-off peers.  

Despite the rhetoric from across the political spectrum, the reality is that too many children are still denied a fair chance to succeed. 

We'll continue to stand up for children who are facing poverty. At the highest levels of government, we press for significant policy change. 

In March 2023, following a five-year campaign we saw huge progress with changes made to how childcare costs are paid to parents receiving Universal Credit, as well as a fresh commitment to free childcare hours for pre-school children.     

To learn more about what we do, read our latest report ‘Our Work in England’.   

We strive to make every place in England a truly great place to grow up – a community with an effective, joined-up approach to enabling full and happy childhoods.

Our participatory principles allow us to test new approaches, discover solutions to longstanding problems, and bring people together to learn from each other. We act as a bridge between ideas and action. 

We are proud to provide families with vital, direct support, but our ultimate ambition is not just to improve the life chances of a handful of children in the places where we work.  We believe our empowering approach can support longer-term change. 

• "How are you meant to help?" Parents' perspectives on supporting their children's learning
• Barriers to early learning briefing: Barriers to early learning among low income families in the UK
• It all starts here: Tackling the crisis in the early years teacher workforce
• A bright start: Improving childcare for disadvantaged families through universal credit
• Three steps to improving childcare
• Submission to the Work and Pensions Committee inquiry into childcare costs under universal credit
• Making childcare work: fixing upfront childcare costs for families on universal credit

• Lighting up Young Brains: How parents, carers and nurseries support brain development in the first five years
• The Lost Boys: How boys fall behind in their early years
• Lost opportunities, lost incomes – Why families in England need freform of childcare and early education
• Untapped Potential – How England’s nursery lottery is failing children
• Early language development & primary school attainment – the link between the early years and children’s later lives
• Ready to Read – Closing the gap in early language skills so that every child in England can read well