Guidance

Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies: parenting and home learning environment menu of interventions

Updated 30 March 2026

Applies to England

Parenting

A parenting evidence-based initiative (EBI) is a structured programme or approach, designed to support parents and caregivers in developing the skills, knowledge and confidence to positively influence their child’s early development. These interventions:

• are grounded in robust evidence showing improvements in a range of outcomes including in parent-child relationships, parenting practices or child outcomes (especially in social, emotional and behavioural domains)

• typically include structured sessions, trained facilitators and fidelity frameworks to ensure consistent delivery

• are designed to be accessible, practical and may be culturally adaptable, often delivered in group settings or through outreach

Scope of funding requirements

Your activity should be strategically focused at delivering EBIs for the cohort central to the 2028 good level of development (GLD) target – broadly speaking, the 3 to 4 age range but could include children who are in reception year in academic year 2027 to 2028.

Local authorities should be able to demonstrate how their investment builds delivery capacity and contributes meaningfully to improved outcomes for this age group. Any spend outside of EBIs should be clearly justifiable by its contribution to the GLD ambition or strengthening and expanding parenting services within Best Start Family Hubs for the long term.

Local authorities that received funding through the previous Family Hubs and Start for Life programme will have established models and can continue to fund existing EBIs for 0 to 2s. From April 2026, all local authorities should prioritise spend on EBIs suitable for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Local authorities should deliver EBIs as part of a high‑quality, coherent and integrated local  parenting offer for families with children aged 0 to 5, combining face‑to‑face and digital outreach and peer support, providing clear guidance on how to support children’s development.

Local authorities should prioritise and maximise take‑up of EBIs recognising they should be delivered alongside effective relational and context-specific forms of family support.

Menu of interventions

Parenting EBIs include programmes with evidence that would be rated level 3 or above in the Foundations Guidebook, reflecting the wider availability of interventions with this level of evidence in the UK market, suitable for 3- and 4-year-olds.

• Child-Parent Psychotherapy
• Empowering Parents Empowering Communities (EPEC)
• Family Check-Up for Children (FCU)
• Generation Parent Management Training Oregon (GEN PMTO)
• Incredible Years Preschool
• Incredible Years Preschool +ADVANCE Parent Training Curriculum
• ParentChild+
• Parents as First Teachers (PAFT)
• Schoolchildren and their Families
• Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Triple P – Enhanced Triple P (Level 5)
• Triple P – Family Transitions
• Triple P – Level 4 Group Triple P
• Triple P – Level 4 Standard Triple P
• Triple P – Level 5 Pathways
• Triple P – Selected (Seminars) Stepping Stones
• Triple P – Standard Stepping Stones + Group
• Triple P Level 3 Discussion Groups
• Triple P Online
• Video-Interventions to promote positive parenting and sensitive discipline (VIPP-SD)/Healthy Start, Happy Start

Home learning environment

A home learning environment (HLE) EBI is a structured programme that equips parents and caregivers with strategies and activities to enhance the quality of parent and child learning interactions in the home.

These interventions:

• are grounded in robust evidence and can show improvements across outcomes including in parent-child relationships, parenting practices or child outcomes –particularly in early language, social, emotional and behavioural development

• focus on early language, literacy, communication, cognitive and social and emotional development through everyday routines and play

• are designed to be accessible, practical and may be culturally adaptable, often delivered in group settings or through outreach

• emphasise quality parent child interactions and parental engagement in learning and often include modelling, resources and goal setting

Scope of funding requirements

Your activity should be strategically focused at delivering EBIs for the cohort central to the 2028 GLD target – broadly speaking, the 3 to 4 age range but could include children who are in reception year in academic year 2027 to 2028.

Local authorities should be able to demonstrate how their investment builds delivery capacity and contributes meaningfully to improved outcomes for this age group.

Any spend outside of EBIs should be clearly justifiable in terms of its contribution to the GLD ambition or strengthening and expanding HLE services within Best Start Family Hubs for the long term.

Local authorities should deliver EBIs as part of a high‑quality, coherent and integrated home learning offer for local families with children aged 0 to 5, combining face‑to‑face and digital outreach and peer support, providing clear guidance on how to support children’s development.

Local authorities should prioritise and maximise take‑up of EBIs, recognising they should be delivered alongside effective relational and context-specific forms of family support.

Menu of interventions

For the HLE menu, interventions with evidence at level 2 in the Foundations Guidebook or equivalent impact are included. A different approach has been taken for the HLE menu due to the limited number of HLE programmes with level 3 evidence, and to support service continuity for local authorities currently funded by the Department for Education (DfE) to deliver HLE provision to 3- and 4-year-olds.

• Auditory Verbal Therapy
• Early Talk Boost
• Early Words Together
• EasyPeasy
• Incredible Years Preschool
• Incredible Years Preschool +ADVANCE Parent Training Curriculum
• Let’s Play in Tandem (now available in an updated form as LEAP into Learning)
• Making it REAL
• ParentChild+
• Parents as First Teachers (PAFT)
• PEEP Learning Together Programme
• Triple P – Level 3 Discussion Groups
• Triple P – Level 4 Group
• Triple P – Online
• Triple P – Stepping Stones

Important Information for local authorities

There is no statutory requirement for local authorities to select interventions from these menus. Local areas are responsible for making their own decisions about commissioning and delivery. Decisions regarding programme selection remain for local authorities, who must ensure compliance with all applicable procurement requirements. It is important that local authorities select interventions that meet local needs and align well with local service delivery^{[footnote 1]}.

We encourage investment in evidence‑based interventions EBIs, as these offer the strongest indication of impact. However, we also recognise that some programmes and approaches, while not meeting the criteria for EBI designation on these menus, may still draw on credible evidence and add value as part of a broader local offer.

A number of further programmes were reviewed through a menu exemption process, with decisions on programmes shared directly with local authorities. These programmes do not currently appear in these published menus.

We will continue to keep the menu of interventions under review and consider future updates as needed. The menu exemption process has now concluded with no further rounds planned over this funding period.

Where a programme has not met the exemption criteria but has a credible evidence base, local authorities may still choose to use or fund it as part of its broader home learning or parenting offer, provided they also have another EBI in place agreed with DfE in line with these policy requirements.

1. For further information on local decision making on evidence use see Foundations’ Evidence Pie: Evidence into Practice – Foundations. ↩