Introduced in 1999, Sure Start was the first large government initiative to provide holistic support to families with children under the age of 5 in England. The policy introduced a network of local ‘one-stop shops’, which brought together a range of services to support local families with the aim of enhancing the development and life chances of children under 5. These services included health services, parenting support, early learning and childcare, and parental employment support.

Over the decade during which it was rolled out, Sure Start became an increasingly important element of the early years policy landscape in England and shifted from an initiative initially targeted at the most disadvantaged areas to a universal programme. At its peak in 2010–11, the programme received a third of the total early years budget and had a network of close to 3,500 centres throughout the country.

This report presents evidence of the short- and medium-term impacts of the programme on educational outcomes. Using a robust evaluation methodology and administrative education data covering 15 cohorts of children, the authors measure the impact of having had access to a Sure Start centre between ages 0 and 5 on school outcomes, including academic achievement and special educational needs. They estimate how these effects vary across different backgrounds, and shed some light onto the mechanisms that might have made Sure Start more or less effective.

Key findings:

• Access to a Sure Start centre between the ages of 0 and 5 significantly improved the educational achievement of children, with benefits lasting at least until GCSEs (age 16).
• There are much larger impacts for those from the poorest backgrounds and those from non-white backgrounds. By the time they took their GCSEs, effects were six times higher for those eligible for free school meals than for those not eligible for them.
• Access to a nearby Sure Start centre at early ages increased the likelihood of children being recorded as having a special educational need or disability (SEND) at age 5, but significantly decreased the proportion of children recorded as having a SEND at ages 11 and 16 by 3%. By age 16, the probability of having an Education, Health and Care Plan decreased by 9% (or over 1,000 children a year).
• The research provide further evidence that intervening in early childhood to promote child development through holistic family support can yield important dividends when programmes are well designed and funded.