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A new era of integration in the early years

In A fairer start

15 Jul 2025

Online and in person, EC4Y 0DS

This event took place on Tuesday 15 July. You can watch the recording below.

Event recording

The opinions expressed in this event recording are those of the speaker. For more information, view our full statement on external contributors.

Evidence shows children growing up in poverty are less likely to live a long, fulfilling and happy life than their peers. It’s not right that some people have poorer life chances because of their family circumstances.

Evidence shows that place-based services that offer families a single point of access to different types of support is an effective and cost efficient way of ensuring the healthy development of babies and young children, breaking the link between family background and life chances.

In July 2025, the UK Government committed to reviving family services across England through the expansion of the family hubs programme to every local authority.

This is a welcome signal of a new era of commitment to integrated family support and improving the development outcomes of babies and young children. As the strategy is translated into delivery, what’s now crucial is that the evidence on what it takes to give every child the best possible start in life is put into practice.

Nesta, in partnership with the Ethos Foundation, brought together a coalition of partners across the early years to propose a high-level blueprint for how the new family hubs programme can most effectively deliver support for all children and families in desperate need of it.

On Tuesday 15 July 15:30-17:00 BST we gathered experts across the early years sector to share insights, learnings and recommendations from our new high-level blueprint.

During the event, we shared how leaders can work together to make sure timely, effective support reaches young children and families most in need in England. We presented our findings alongside project partners and stakeholders.

This event was for policymakers, senior decision makers in local authorities and health organisations, early years professionals and practitioners, civic leaders, and the early years research and innovation community.

Elspeth Kirkman

She/her

Elspeth is the chief programmes officer at Nesta, overseeing the work of its three mission teams. Elspeth ensures these teams aim to: close the income-driven gaps in early childhood development; halve the prevalence of obesity, and reduce domestic emissions to net zero. Prior to this role, Elspeth was a senior member of The Behavioural Insights Team. She established the organisation’s North American office and ran various aspects of the team’s social policy work. Elspeth is the author of two books: Behavioral Insights (2020) and Decisionscape (2024). She holds fellowships with King’s College London and Exeter University.

Lucy Kraftman

She/her

Lucy works as a senior analyst in the fairer start mission. Before joining Nesta, Lucy has worked as a Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and a Lead Analyst at the Department for Education, she has also worked as a freelance quantitative analyst. Her work has focused around research on inequalities in early years and education to provide evidence based solutions to inform policy. Projects included evaluating the impact of providing finance and nutritional information to pregnant mothers, exploring the characteristics of children not attending school, and exposing the inequalities faced by families during Covid-19. She has also trained as a secondary school math teacher, gaining valuable insights into the challenges faced by young people today. She holds a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Economics.

Ben Lewing

He/him

Ben Lewing is a Director at Making Evidence Work, a new community interest company with a mission to unlock the power of evidence to improve children's lives. He describes himself as a children’s services boundary spanner, and highly motivated by children's joyfulness. His professional journey has stretched from children's homes in Birmingham to national policy influencing on evidence-use, via commissioning local authority and NHS prevention and early intervention services. He spent a decade at the Early Intervention Foundation and Foundations leading work to support local leaders to use diverse forms of evidence. He is the architect of Changemakers and the Early Years Transformation Academy, created the Evidence Pie and is the author of 'Leading & delivering early childhood services: 10 insights from 20 places across England & Wales.

Edward Melhuish

He/Him

Edward Melhuish is Emeritus Professor of Human Development at the University of Oxford, and visiting professor to 5 universities in Australia, Greece and China. He has been the Director of the National Evaluation of Sure Start (2001-2012), the Effective Pre-school Primary & Secondary Education (EPPSE, 1997-2014) and SEED projects. He has been undertaking longitudinal studies of 4000 children in England, Norway and China. His work has influenced the lives of millions of children, and contributed to social policy in the UK for families, early years services and education, including universal provision of pre-school for all 3 & 4 year-olds and establishing 3500 Children’s Centres, Every Child Matters and 10-Year Childcare strategies, and early education for 2-year-olds for the 40% most disadvantaged. He has given evidence to parliamentary committees and is an advisor to research councils in Norway, Finland, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Korea, Canada, USA, Chile, and the European Commission, OECD and WHO.

Janet Grauberg

She/Her

Janet is an organisational strategy and learning consultant with wide expertise in children and young people’s services, and a passion for spreading practice and innovation. Recent consulting clients include facilitating learning for charities working with care leavers, supporting scale-up of professional development for early years practitioners, and a strategic review for a community centre. Janet previously held senior roles in the voluntary sector, including as Strategy Director at Barnardo’s, and in government, including the Every Child Matters programme and Sure Start. She recently received an OBE for services to the community in north London and to education.

A new era of integration in the early years

About Nesta

A new era of integration in the early years

This event took place on Tuesday 15 July. You can watch the recording below.