Evaluating the impact of Flying Start on early year outcomes using linked administrative data and a naturally occurring experiment
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: Sch of Social Sciences
Abstract
Poverty negatively impacts children's health and education outcomes, contributing to long-term generational inequalities in the UK. Effective early years interventions can reduce inequalities upon arrival to school and provide long-term economic benefits into adulthood. All four UK nations have strong political wills to tackle early years inequalities through interventions such as free childcare. However, not all early years programmes may work as intended or be cost-effective, and finding credible evidence of 'what works' to improve outcomes is a policy challenge. This project directly addresses this evidence gap by measuring the impact of Wales's flagship early years programme, Flying Start.
Flying Start was introduced in 2007 and targeted families living in the most deprived areas of Wales. Due to its popularity and perceived success, Flying Start has been expanded twice (2012 - 2016, 2021 - present). Every family with a child aged 0 - 4 in a Flying Start area is entitled to:
- free quality, part-time childcare for 2-3-year-olds;
- an intensive health visiting service;
- access to parenting support; and
- support for speech, language and communication development.
Flying Start is ambitious and well-resourced - costing twice as much to deliver as similar schemes in England and Northern Ireland (Sure Start).
Our project leverages a naturally occurring experiment which allows us to evaluate Flying Start's impact on cohorts of mothers and children using linked administrative data from the SAIL databank. The SAIL Databank is a collection of administrative data on health, schooling and other topics and contains NHS records for everyone in Wales.
Our main objectives are to:
Measure the impact of Flying Start on child education and health outcomes up until ages 5 - 6.
Measure the impact of Flying Start on maternal outcomes until the child is aged 4.
Measure the impact of Flying Start on early interventions and access to specialist services.
Explore potential inequalities or gaps in the effectiveness of Flying Start. For example, does Flying Start have a stronger or weaker effect on younger mothers?
In the short term, our findings will directly address the Welsh Government's statutory duties to evidence policy effectiveness and considerable public interest in this popular and expensive intervention (costing £142 million in 2020-21 alone). This issue is particularly timely given the ongoing expansion of Flying Start in Wales and free childcare in England. In the medium and long term, our project benefits other UK nations and organisations looking for the best evidence on how to shape their early years interventions to maximise impact and value for money. For the wider research community, our project addresses a long-standing evidence gap. There are no robust evaluations of place-based social interventions like Flying Start (based on a recent systematic review, McGowan et al 2021).
Our project is based on extensive scoping activities (funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership Maternal and Child Health Network). For this project, we are joined by partners who are major policy-makers (Welsh Government) and representatives of the broader research community (Maternal and Child Health Network). We are in close correspondence with stakeholders and key opinion formers such as Nesta and the National Children's Bureau. In addition to our public engagement with Flying Start service users, these partners will ensure that our project will be relevant and impactful.
Flying Start was introduced in 2007 and targeted families living in the most deprived areas of Wales. Due to its popularity and perceived success, Flying Start has been expanded twice (2012 - 2016, 2021 - present). Every family with a child aged 0 - 4 in a Flying Start area is entitled to:
- free quality, part-time childcare for 2-3-year-olds;
- an intensive health visiting service;
- access to parenting support; and
- support for speech, language and communication development.
Flying Start is ambitious and well-resourced - costing twice as much to deliver as similar schemes in England and Northern Ireland (Sure Start).
Our project leverages a naturally occurring experiment which allows us to evaluate Flying Start's impact on cohorts of mothers and children using linked administrative data from the SAIL databank. The SAIL Databank is a collection of administrative data on health, schooling and other topics and contains NHS records for everyone in Wales.
Our main objectives are to:
Measure the impact of Flying Start on child education and health outcomes up until ages 5 - 6.
Measure the impact of Flying Start on maternal outcomes until the child is aged 4.
Measure the impact of Flying Start on early interventions and access to specialist services.
Explore potential inequalities or gaps in the effectiveness of Flying Start. For example, does Flying Start have a stronger or weaker effect on younger mothers?
In the short term, our findings will directly address the Welsh Government's statutory duties to evidence policy effectiveness and considerable public interest in this popular and expensive intervention (costing £142 million in 2020-21 alone). This issue is particularly timely given the ongoing expansion of Flying Start in Wales and free childcare in England. In the medium and long term, our project benefits other UK nations and organisations looking for the best evidence on how to shape their early years interventions to maximise impact and value for money. For the wider research community, our project addresses a long-standing evidence gap. There are no robust evaluations of place-based social interventions like Flying Start (based on a recent systematic review, McGowan et al 2021).
Our project is based on extensive scoping activities (funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership Maternal and Child Health Network). For this project, we are joined by partners who are major policy-makers (Welsh Government) and representatives of the broader research community (Maternal and Child Health Network). We are in close correspondence with stakeholders and key opinion formers such as Nesta and the National Children's Bureau. In addition to our public engagement with Flying Start service users, these partners will ensure that our project will be relevant and impactful.
