Summary of the current position in Gloucestershire

The strategic priorities of Gloucestershire’s local Best Start in Life plan have been shaped by the evidence gathered through our local needs assessment - Best Start Local Strategy – Case for action.

Gloucestershire’s early years system has strong universal foundations, supported by a clear strategic framework, delivery of some evidence-based programmes, a committed workforce and a developing Gloucestershire's Family Hubs Network model.

Gloucestershire has a strong universal offer, underpinned by clear strategic direction through the One Plan for Children and Young People (2024–2030), which sets out a collective ambition to ensure all children grow up healthy, safe, included, and ready to learn. However, as highlighted across multiple needs assessments, population datasets and family insights, inequalities remain entrenched, particularly in parts of Gloucester, Cheltenham and the Forest of Dean, and among families facing socioeconomic disadvantage, additional needs, or structural barriers to access.

What is working well:

Gloucestershire has a well-established and effective Early Help infrastructure that is recognised for strong multiagency collaboration with external partners and the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), targeted support and successful engagement with previous national programmes such as Supporting Families. This maturity is reflected in consistently achieving full Payment by Results outcomes for work with vulnerable families.

The county benefits from a longstanding experience of early help delivered across statutory, voluntary, faith and community sectors, providing a broad and diverse support ecosystem for families.

VCS organisations significantly extend the reach and diversity of Gloucestershire’s universal offer. They deliver community-based parent groups, outdoor play sessions, family wellbeing activities, and opportunities for informal peer support. Organisations such as Play Gloucestershire provide accessible play-based learning and nurture opportunities across the county, helping families engage in low cost, developmentally rich activities within their communities.

Together, Children and Family Centres (C&FCs) and the VCS form a vital universal layer of Gloucestershire’s early years system. Their combined offer promotes early relationships, supports parental confidence, strengthens the home learning environment, and ensures that families can access timely, community-based help long before needs escalate.

Within Gloucestershire, there is a clear system-wide shift towards relationship based, trauma informed, and whole family practice, supported by refreshed strategic frameworks and ongoing workforce development. This approach is improving consistency and quality of engagement across services.

Addressing disparities requires a systematic approach that aligns early years services with the four overarching One Plan objectives which include Equity, Access, Inclusion and Quality and strengthens prevention across the home learning environment, Early Childhood Education and Care settings and health services.

A more coherent, integrated and confident workforce system is needed to ensure that home learning, Early Childhood Education and Care provision and health services deliver prevention consistently, equitably and in alignment with the One Plan’s vision that

Gloucestershire becomes “a great place to grow up where all children and young people thrive and live lives of choice and opportunity.”

Scale of Change

To achieve local GLD ambitions and narrow inequalities, a programme of countywide targeted uplift is required, concentrated in specific wards of the county. Data shows that Gloucestershire is on an upward trend, however disadvantaged children are not progressing at the same rate.

Children growing up in low‑income households are significantly more likely to experience compounding disadvantages, including a higher likelihood of having SEND, and of being from ethnic minority backgrounds disproportionately affected by deprivation.

Structural inequalities linked to socioeconomic status, ethnicity and disability interact to shape early childhood outcomes, with research showing that where a child is born and their family’s resources strongly predict developmental trajectories. These overlapping, intersectional factors mean that children in deprived areas often face multiple, interlocking barriers, including reduced access to high‑quality early education, greater exposure to poorer material and emotional environments, and higher risks of emotional and behavioural difficulties. As a result, inequalities appear early, widen over time, and can have long‑term impacts on health, learning, and life chances, reinforcing the need for integrated, targeted early support.

Who are our priority families?

• Children experiencing poverty or economic deprivation, where risks relating to language development, oral health and healthy weight are enhanced and transport/access barriers are more pronounced
• Children with SEND and those with emerging Speech, Language and Communication needs, requiring earlier identification, inclusive Early Years provision and smoother transitions/EHC planning
• Children in Care and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children, that experience poorer oral health and reduced access to dental care and need joined up pathways and attachment focused Home Learning Environment support
• Inclusion health groups including Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities, and asylum seekers/refugees that face greater barriers to prevention, dental care and affordable nutritious food
• Children with English as an additional language and children from black Caribbean/African and Asian communities (reflecting national GLD trends), requiring culturally competent support and language rich environments
• Families with lower breastfeeding continuation and higher maternal BMI at booking, to optimise infant feeding and early growth and nutrition.

Where will we focus our service provision?

Although Gloucestershire performs in line with the Southwest (SW) average overall, the county’s internal inequalities mirror SW regional patterns, with poorer outcomes concentrated in Gloucester, Cheltenham, and the Forest of Dean. Across all priority districts, improving GLD outcomes, particularly for children most affected by deprivation, will be a core focus.

Primary focus

• Gloucester District: High levels of deprivation, childhood obesity, and dental decay; lower breastfeeding continuation; access challenges. Priorities include enhanced Gloucestershire's Family Hubs Network outreach, the Supervised Toothbrushing Programme/First Dental Steps, Chat Play Read and strengthened food security initiatives
• Cheltenham District: Pockets of deprivation with elevated dental decay among
• 5-year-olds, lower breastfeeding prevalence and barriers to accessing high-quality play/green space and active travel routes. Priorities include strengthening Gloucestershire's Family Hubs Network outreach, expanding oral health improvement (Supervised Toothbrushing/First Dental Steps), targeted breastfeeding support and peer networks, and enhancing access to safe play, green space and active travel initiatives
• Forest of Dean District: Rurality related access barriers (including food deserts and transport limitations) and pockets of higher obesity. Priorities include targeted outreach on healthy weight, Home Learning Environment (HLE)development and early years oral health prevention.

Secondary focus

Target neighbourhoods in Stroud and Tewkesbury where breastfeeding continuation and access to early years childcare or uptake of provision is lower, this is linked to rurality which local Gloucestershire data evidences.