Scheme to Support New Parents and Babies Rolls Out Across England

A SCHEME to support new parents with dedicated advice and guidance will be rolled out across councils in England following an announcement by the UK’s health secretary.

The Healthy Babies programme, under which parents will receive breast feeding advice, mental health support and help to form strong relationships with their babies, is to be expanded to every local authority in England, bringing integrated health and family support for new parents to more communities.

Implementing Local Support for Babies and Families

The scheme seeks to follow the principles of Sure Start, a previous scheme by the Labour government that saw a network of centres offering integrated services for under-fives and their families, launched in 1988.

Much of the hugely successful Sure Start scheme, which is said to have generated longer-term savings worth twice the system’s cost, was dismantled under the Conservative government.

Now, Health and Social Care Secretary Yvette Cooper has set out the plans to employ a more integrated approach to family support that will be delivered through more than 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs by 2028.

Best Start Family Hubs have already been rolling out across England, but more than half of local authorities currently have hubs without Healthy Babies services. As a result, families cannot always access integrated health, early years development and family support in a single location.

The expansion, which aim to close that gap, forms part of the government’s neighbourhood health approach, which aims to deliver early years, family and elderly support closer to home.

National Care Service and Stopping Violence Against Women

The Healthy Babies announcement was made alongside several other health and care measures for different members of the British population.

For adult social care, the government said a workforce plan will be published by the end of the year. The also announced the first national collective pension scheme for care workers, as well as a new champion for unpaid carers.

These are described as steps towards the National Care Service recently announced by UK Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, which will eventually provide free personal care for older people, based on need rather than ability to pay.

The government also recognised violence against women and girls as a public health epidemic, backed by £49.4 million over three years for Integrated Care Boards. This includes up to £34.4 million to support 12 areas in delivering the first phase of the Steps to Safety referral service through GP practices.

References

Department of Health and Social Care. Support for families and babies rolled out to all family hubs. GOV.UK. 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/support-for-families-and-babies-rolled-out-to-all-family-hubs