Support for parents is one of the most effective ways to improve a child’s development. However, the 'market' for parenting support faces a number of barriers to working effectively. It is expensive to prove a programme is effective, information on interventions can be complex and difficult for commissioners of interventions to navigate, and we know relatively little about families’ needs and preferences. This project builds on our previous work looking at barriers to scaling parenting programmes by taking a broad, quantitative look at what is available and what is actually being implemented across the country.

Our goal is to ensure that parenting support reaches its maximum impact in the UK. By surveying the current state of the market, our analysis will generate a shared agenda for Nesta and other stakeholders to attain this goal. In particular, we want to see a market that encourages innovation in high-quality programmes and makes it easier for the most effective support to reach the families who could benefit most.

The market for parenting support has a relatively convoluted structure and may not be set up for success. This means we can’t be sure that the right quantity and type of parenting support is being delivered to the right families in the UK. This project aims to take a first step in solving this problem by setting out the problems faced by the market, and then providing clarity on what interventions are available, which ones are most effective, and which ones are currently implemented.

We are conducting a rapid but systematic review of 135 parenting programmes. For each one, we will capture key data on their features, such as the development areas they target (eg, social skills or language), whether they are for individuals or groups, and if they are delivered in-person or online. We will then analyse how the features of these programmes, including their strength of evidence, relate to their popularity. We will also develop a statistical model to predict the extent to which scaling the most effective programmes could help meet the government’s new mission to ‘Break Down Barriers to Opportunity’.