There is ample evidence of the success of the Sure Start Programme from its launch in 1998 until it was dismantled in the 2010s. The current government’s Best Start in Life programme has elements in common with Sure Start but the level of investment is far smaller.
What should the focus of Best Start be, in order to make the most of the investment available? Where are multi-agency approaches already happening, whether the direct legacy of Sure Start or not, which are helping vulnerable families to stay together and thrive, and what are the key ingredients of these?
Here we will identify what the blockers are at the community level that prevent a multi-agency, non-stigmatising offer of support for families from being developed. What are the conditions needed, in terms of both public services and civil society, for a truly preventive approach to be embedded? The increase in children being taken into care has to be seen as a sign that prevention is not working. What is it that leads to this obvious systemic failure, and is the trend being reversed anywhere? We will try to understand why it’s so difficult to shift to a supportive and preventive approach to families facing difficulties, and find examples of where this is happening for others to learn from.
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