4 November 2020: There are strong warning signs that hundreds of thousands more young children will be left behind and their life chances stunted before they even start school. The warning comes from Nesta, the innovation agency, as it starts the search for local partners to help design, trial, adapt and improve early years support.

Inequalities often appear early in life and continue to widen over time, having long-lasting effects on children's futures. Multiple studies have found that children born into disadvantage are more likely to experience poorer health, lower earnings and lower levels of happiness than their peers. For example:

• People with a low level of educational attainment are five times more likely to experience poverty as an adult, and 11 times more likely to be severely materially deprived, compared to people with good educational attainment1.
• Children in the bottom quartile of the 22 month development assessment are approximately twice as likely to have no qualifications by age 26 than those in the top quartile. At 42 months, the correlation is more pronounced – approximately four times the likelihood of no qualification, and by age five it was approximately six times2.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only served to further strain and lay bare the prospects of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’, and the warning signs are stark:

• Babies and toddlers from poorer backgrounds have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, with less access to books and outdoor space during lockdown than children growing up in wealthier families3.
• An estimated 900,000 more children have sought Free School Meals this year - a 64% increase on the 1.4m already receiving them4.
• Uptake of home learning during lockdown showed gaps between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers5.

Of the local authorities Nesta spoke to over the last six months, all raised significant concerns about the impact of the pandemic widening the attainment gap and the prospects of young children in their areas.

Nesta is now inviting local areas, led by their local authority, to come forward as innovation partners to confront these inequalities head-on. In a commitment to the sector for at least the next five years, Nesta is looking to work in partnership with families, communities and professionals to design, test and scale ideas that help give each child the same chance to thrive.

Ravi Gurumurthy, chief executive, Nesta, said: “The number of households receiving universal credit has leapt this year and Free School Meals hit the headlines yet again over half term. Worryingly, this is the tip of the iceberg: indicators sitting above so many factors about a child’s life. Inequality isn’t inevitable but for too many children it dictates their future.

“Nesta’s vision is for every child to have the fairest possible start in life, so they can thrive and realise their potential. We’re now looking for local partners to help us look beneath the surface and find solutions that will change lives.”

Local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales can express an interest in becoming an innovation partner at www.nesta.org.uk/earlyyears. Applications are open between 3 November and 23 December 2020.

- Ends –

Notes to editor

For media enquiries, please contact Sarah Bell on [email protected] or call 07900 926 194. Interviews available on request.

• Footnotes:
  • 1: Intergenerational transmission of disadvantage in the UK & EU. Paola Serafino, Richard Tonkin. ONS (2014)
  • 2: Leon Feinstein (2003) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-0335.t01-1-00272
  • 3: Oxford Brookes Babylab (2020) https://babylab.brookes.ac.uk/research/social-distancing-and-development/family-activities
  • 4: Food Foundation (2020) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/demand-for-free-school-meals-rises-sharply-as-the-economic-impact-of-covid-19-on-families-bites/
  • 5: Nesta and School Dash (2020) https://www.nesta.org.uk/data-visualisation-and-interactive/levelling-maths-during-lockdown/
• Innovation partner eligibility:
  • Applications, led by local authorities, are welcome from across England, Scotland or Wales.
  • Partnerships will be sought where there is a) a large attainment gap between children from low-income backgrounds and those from more affluent families, or b) a greater proportion of disadvantaged children are not currently reaching expected levels of development.
  • There should be a commitment to collaborate from key local partners (eg. the local authority, health services, nurseries, schools and the community and voluntary sector).
  • Partners should be committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion through the work together.
• In January 2020, Nesta will publish full details of its new strategy, with a focus on three missions. One of the three missions is to improve support for children and young people at two crucial stages of development: 0-5 years old and 11-16 years old.
• Nesta will work in partnership with families, communities and professionals to design, test and scale innovative ideas that aim to level the playing field. By applying innovation expertise, Nesta aims to find insights hidden in data, build a deep understanding of how families make decisions for their children, identify creative ways to improve services, and rigorously evaluate to find out if it works, to what extent, and for whom.

About Nesta (www.nesta.org.uk)

Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society. We've spent over 20 years working out the best ways to make change happen through research and experimenting, and we've applied that to our work in innovation policy, health, education, government innovation and the creative economy and arts. Nesta is based in the UK and supported by a financial endowment. We work with partners around the globe to bring bold ideas to life to change the world for good.