Early years sector mobilises for new national consensus on babies and young children.
4 Sept 2026
A new national organisation has launched to build lasting public and political consensus on improving outcomes and reducing inequalities for babies and young children across the UK.
Start Strong launches UK-wide public call for input and Citizens’ Assembly on babies and young children to help shape lasting cross-party policy agenda
Launch coincides with MPs and sector groups attending second reading of Babies Bill to strengthen legislative foundations for early years
London, 4 September 2026 A new national organisation has launched to build lasting public and political consensus on improving outcomes and reducing inequalities for babies and young children across the UK.
Start Strong will gather views from people across the UK and convene a national Citizens’ Assembly to identify priorities that command broad public support and can guide long-term political decision making. The launch comes as MPs debate the Babies Bill, backed by a wide coalition of early years groups.
Start Strong launches amidst deep and widening inequalities in children’s earliest experiences. Babies in the most deprived areas of England are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday as those in the least deprived areas. By age five, children from low-income families are already almost five months behind their peers in development. A record 177,530 children in England are living in temporary accommodation.
The organisation is led by early years expert Sally Hogg, a long-term champion of babies, young children and families who has held senior roles at the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, NSPCC and the Royal Foundation.
Sally Hogg, Director of Start Strong, said: “The Babies Bill puts a welcome spotlight on babies and young children who are too often invisible in policy. But this conversation must go beyond Westminster. We want to build from this moment to create a broad national consensus about what babies, young children and their parents should be able to expect from the society around them. Successive governments have introduced programmes to support families in early childhood. But too often policy has been characterised by short-term initiatives and fragmented interventions, rather than building strong, lasting services that families trust. Time and energy are wasted setting services up, scaling them back and starting again. We need policies that stick, not sticking plasters.” Every child matters, but not every child gets a fair start. Too often the circumstances into which a child is born shape their health, development and opportunities. Tackling this needs bold action. Start Strong exists to bring together families’ experiences, professional expertise and the best available evidence, and to find solutions that command broad public support. We want to build the foundations for action that lasts, which can withstand political change and deliver a fair start for all our babies and young children for years to come.”
Today Start Strong is inviting everyone: children, families, wider communities, practitioners and researchers to share their views on what governments across the UK should do to ensure every baby and young child has a fair start in life.
Start Strong is chaired by Richard Pennycook, former Non-Executive Director at the Department for Education, and backed by a coalition of funders and partners including Collective Futures, Ethos Foundation, Impact on Urban Health, Minderoo Foundation, Nesta, and the Tessa Jowell Foundation.
Sarah Blackwood, Foundation Director, Ethos Foundation said: “Early childhood lays the foundation for the rest of a child’s life. Against a worrying backdrop of widening inequalities, we are delighted to be supporting Start Strong and its drive to build a new settlement for babies and young children. Partnerships are crucial to create lasting change and Start Strong’s ambition to bring together people from all backgrounds to shape a shared vision will help us secure the change for generations to come.”
The online call will remain open throughout September. Start Strong will also work with community partners to hear from families whose experiences are less likely to be captured through a national survey. The evidence gathered will be considered by a Citizens’ Assembly to be held in Birmingham on 21 and 22 November 2026 and reporting in early 2027.
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About Start Strong
Start Strong is creating a movement across the UK, connecting parents, practitioners and all those who care deeply about babies and young children. Our role is to help tell a strong new story to change how people think about early childhood. We will bring people together around a new shared national ambition. And we will support politicians to take bold action to ensure that every family and child can thrive.
More information: https://www.startstrong.org.uk/.
About the Public Call for input
Start Strong is inviting anyone in the UK (including: children and young people, parents and family members, practitioners , researchers, and anyone else with a general interest) to share their individual experiences, ideas, recommendations and insights to help shape action. A summary of the results of this public call will be shared with participants in the assembly and included in our final report for governments around the UK.
The survey link is here.
About the Citizens’ Assembly
People from across the UK will come together this autumn to consider public testimony, lived experience and the best available evidence. The Citizens’ Assembly will help create a shared vision for what babies, young children and their families should be able to expect, and identify priorities for action. Its report will be published in early 2027. The independent process is intended to build common ground across political, professional and geographic divides.
Start Strong Research
Start Strong will publish new public opinion research this autumn, undertaken with More in Common and Purpose Union. The research explores how people understand early childhood and tests ways of talking about babies, families and inequality that can build broad public support for action.