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Nathan Hodson · September 2026 Every plan says “parents”. If you sort them by what they actually say about fathers, they fall into three groups — and the group is a local choice, because the national guidance does not require a fathers’ offer at all. The 2026–29 guidance for Best Start in Life plans does not mandate anything for fathers specifically. So what a council writes about dads is entirely its own decision. Reviewing all available Best Start in Life Local Plans, I fou

Nathan Hodson · September 2026 Around 85% of two-year-olds are at expected level on the ASQ. Around 68% of five-year-olds reach GLD. The gap between those numbers is the longest unobserved stretch in a child’s early years — and councils are responding in three different ways. Almost every plan I read reports two figures side by side: the share of children at or above expected level in all five domains of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire at their 2–2½ year review, and the sha

Nathan Hodson · September 2026 The families most in need of a Best Start Family Hub are the ones who will never walk through the door. Best Start in Life Local Plans differ sharply on whether that is a data problem, a trust problem, or a geography problem. The national guidance requires every council to publish an outreach strategy for “families least likely to access services” before its first grant payment. Across all the published local plans, I found three quite different

Nathan Hodson · University of Warwick · September 2026 Every council in England has been given a good-level-of-development target for 2028. The plans that turned it into a headcount have a huge advantage over plans that left it as a percentage. In July 2025 the Department for Education set out its ambition that 75% of five-year-olds should reach a good level of development (GLD) by 2028 (Giving every child the best start in life). Each council then received its own pair of ta