Supporting North Northamptonshire to Develop their Best Start in Life Action Plan
We worked with North Northamptonshire Council to support the development of their Best Start in Life Action Plan, bringing together partners across health, early years, education and family support to translate national ambitions into a clear, practical local plan.
Local areas are being asked to demonstrate how they will improve early childhood outcomes, increase the number of children achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) and reduce inequalities. For many systems, the challenge is not a lack of commitment or activity, but bringing together existing workstreams, data and priorities into a coherent and deliverable plan.
North Northamptonshire already had strong foundations in place, including an established Family Hub network and active partnership working. Our role was to provide external expertise, facilitation and strategic support to help partners step back, review their priorities and develop a clear action plan for delivery.
Our Approach
We worked closely with the council’s strategic lead for Best Start and Family Hubs to design and facilitate a structured partnership workshop and follow-up action planning session.
Partnership Workshop
We designed and facilitated a full partnership workshop bringing together colleagues from across early years, health, education, Family Hubs, public health and the voluntary sector.
Drawing on our national insight and experience supporting Family Hubs and early years systems across the country, we:
- set the national policy context for Best Start and GLD improvement
- facilitated structured discussions on what “good” would look like for children and families
- helped partners identify strengths, gaps and opportunities within the local system
- supported partners to consider how existing workstreams could align with the Best Start agenda
- drew out practical ideas for improving early identification, workforce capability and family engagement.
The workshop enabled partners to step back from day-to-day delivery and collectively shape the priorities that should drive improvement.
Translating Insight into Action
Following the workshop, we worked alongside the council’s lead officer to turn the partnership’s discussions into a structured Best Start in Life Action Plan.
This included:
- refining and structuring the strategic priorities
- identifying measurable indicators and outcomes
- aligning the plan with existing workstreams such as Family Hubs, health visiting and early years improvement
- ensuring the plan was practical, deliverable and grounded in the realities of the local system.
Our role was to help translate the energy and ideas generated in the workshop into a clear framework that partners could realistically deliver.
Outcomes
The work resulted in a published Best Start in Life Action Plan which provides a clear roadmap for improving outcomes for children aged 0–5 across North Northamptonshire.
The process helped the partnership to:
- align multiple workstreams under a shared Best Start framework
- identify practical priorities and actions for improving outcomes
- strengthen collaboration across health, early years, education and family support
- establish clear measures for tracking progress.