The Best Start for Life

A VIsion for the 1001 Critical Days

I launched the 1,001 Critical Days Campaign in 2013 with the publication of the 1001 Critical Days manifesto which highlighted the vital importance of the period from conception to the age of two.

Many MPs, peers, charities, royal colleges and professional bodies have added their support to the campaign over the years, I am so pleased with the momentum that now exists both in politics and among healthcare professionals.

In July 2020 I was appointed as the Government’s Early Years Healthy Development Adviser, and led a nationwide review into early years policy across Whitehall, culminating in The Best Start for Life: a Vision for the 1001 Critical Days, a report I launched alongside the Prime Minister in March 2021. 

The report contains 6 Action Areas for change, which became Government policy in March 2021. First as Early Years Adviser and then as Minister for the Start for Life from November 2023 until the new Labour government was formed on July 6th 2024, I led the rollout of the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. This work was supported by a team of 40 civil servants in the Start for Life Unit within the Department for Health and Social Care. In October 2021 the Spending Review, under then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak, allocated £300m to rollout the Vision across England, providing funding to 75 upper tier local authority areas for three years.

The Action Areas are:

1. Seamless support for families: a coherent joined-up Start for Life offer available to all families

2. A welcoming hub for families: family hubs as a place for families to access Start for Life services

3. The information families need when they need it: designing digital, virtual and telephone offers around the needs of the family

4. An empowered Start for Life workforce: developing a modern skilled workforce to meet the changing needs of families

5. Continually improving the Start for Life offer: improving data, evaluation, outcomes and proportionate inspection

6. Leadership for change: ensuring local and national accountability and building the economic case

Further Reading:

• Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme Guide for Local Authorities

• The 1001 Critical Days Manifesto

• Health & Social Care Select Committee Report on First 1000 Days

• Science & Technology Select Committee Report on Evidence-based Early Intervention

• Education Select Committee Report on Tackling Disadvantage in the Early Years

• Children’s Commissioner ‘Best Beginnings’ Report

• Early Intervention Foundation report on Adverse Childhood Experiences