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A Better Start Southend
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en English
af Afrikaanssq Albanianam Amharicar Arabichy Armenianaz Azerbaijanieu Basquebe Belarusianbn Bengalibs Bosnianbg Bulgarianca Catalanceb Cebuanony Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)co Corsicanhr Croatiancs Czechda Danishnl Dutchen Englisheo Esperantoet Estoniantl Filipinofi Finnishfr Frenchfy Frisiangl Galicianka Georgiande Germanel Greekgu Gujaratiht Haitian Creoleha Hausahaw Hawaiianiw Hebrewhi Hindihmn Hmonghu Hungarianis Icelandicig Igboid Indonesianga Irishit Italianja Japanesejw Javanesekn Kannadakk Kazakhkm Khmerko Koreanku Kurdish (Kurmanji)ky Kyrgyzlo Laola Latinlv Latvianlt Lithuanianlb Luxembourgishmk Macedonianmg Malagasyms Malayml Malayalammt Maltesemi Maorimr Marathimn Mongolianmy Myanmar (Burmese)ne Nepalino Norwegianps Pashtofa Persianpl Polishpt Portuguesepa Punjabiro Romanianru Russiansm Samoangd Scottish Gaelicsr Serbianst Sesothosn Shonasd Sindhisi Sinhalask Slovaksl Slovenianso Somalies Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilisv Swedishtg Tajikta Tamilte Teluguth Thaitr Turkishuk Ukrainianur Urduuz Uzbekvi Vietnamesecy Welshxh Xhosayi Yiddishyo Yorubazu Zulu

2015 - 2025

A Decade of A Better Start Southend

Ten years of supporting families and learning for the future

A BETTER START SOUTHEND

Greater than the sum of its parts

Over the past decade, ABSS has helped to develop an ecosystem of support for Southend’s families, facilitating project and service delivery, and fostering relationships between individuals, families, the community and practitioners

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Projects and Services
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Project sessions
1000
Project participants
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Families supported
Learn more about our impact

Watch our Videos

Hear from Southend’s families and practitioners about ABSS services and how participation has impacted them in these short videos

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STORIES FROM OUR PROGRAMME

Our Stories of Impact

The evidence and learning from the 10-year ABSS programme is summarised within our “Stories of Impact”, a series of reports, videos, presentations and events which tell the story of ABSS alongside our insights, findings and recommendations for the future

STORY OF IMPACT
Stories of Impact: The Context of A Better Start Southend

ABSS was a ten-year (2015 to 2025) test-and-learn programme funded by the National Lottery Community Fund as part of the national A Better Start Programme. The Programme aimed to support pregnant women and families with children aged under four to give their children the best possible start in life. Working alongside local parents/carers, ABSS developed services to improve children’s diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and language and communication, as well as build community resilience and achieve systems change.

 

This report provides an overview of how ABSS operated, the context of Southend, the design and delivery of the ABSS programme, and the ABSS approach to evaluation and reporting. It also describes the Stories of Impact series of reports, listing the key papers that are used to set out evidence of the impact of ABSS and learning from the programme.

Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
A Summary of Learning and Recommendations from the A Better Start Southend Programme

During its 10 years, the ABSS programme was delivered across Southend’s six most deprived wards, focussing on improving social and emotional development, communication and language, and diet and nutrition for 0-4-year-olds, while also building community resilience and driving systems change. By working in partnership with families, communities, and local organisations, ABSS co-produced services rooted in evidence and lived experience, supporting healthier, happier lives for children and parents.

 

Evaluation of the ABSS programme has provided evidence of the impact of ABSS services on individuals, families, communities and professionals. This evidence informs our four key recommendations from the ABSS programme.

Key Recommendations:
  • Invest in relationships and peer-led models to build lasting trust, community resilience and system-wide sustainability.
  • Partners, organisations and delivery bodies must be flexible, responsive and ready to adapt to systemic changes alongside meeting the needs of babies, parents/carers and families.
  • Services must be designed, developed and delivered with inclusion in mind to ensure equity of access to babies and families with the greatest challenges, with barriers minimised and knocked down at every opportunity.
  • Services should be designed, developed and delivered with the end in mind, capturing evidence of impact throughout the journey as a clear method of justifying continuity and securing sustainability.
Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
Supporting Infant Feeding in Southend

Infant feeding lays the foundation for a healthy start in life. Breastfeeding offers vital nutrients, protects against illness, supports emotional bonding, and lowers obesity and future healthcare needs. Supporting mothers to start and continue breastfeeding can improve long-term health and socioeconomic outcomes.

ABSS infant feeding services focused on early intervention, boosting knowledge, confidence, and motivation to breastfeed. This support empowered women to make informed decisions about feeding and successfully transition their babies to solid foods.

Key outcomes from the ABSS programme:
  • In ABSS wards, the rate of sustaining breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks significantly improved since ABSS services were commissioned in 2018, and currently surpasses national rates.
  • The cost-of-living crisis caused a sharp decline in 6-8-week breastfeeding rates. This demonstrates that economic or social shocks have an outsize effect on outcomes in areas of greater deprivation, deepening existing inequalities. Progress to narrow inequalities is fragile and needs to be sustained through active support.
Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
From Birth to School: Supporting Social, Emotional and Communications Development in Southend

The first 1001 days of life are vital for children’s development. Through universal and targeted support, A Better Start Southend (ABSS) helped families boost children’s communication, social skills, and emotional wellbeing—especially in areas facing deprivation. By working closely with parents/carers, early years settings, schools, and the community, ABSS improved school readiness and gave more children the best possible start.

Key outcomes from the ABSS programme:
  • Children in ABSS wards, particularly in deprived areas, made notable progress in school readiness, including personal, social, and emotional development, as well as literacy and maths.
  • Early intervention and universal speech and language support reduced the need for more intensive specialist services and supported sustained progress.
  • Collaboration between early years settings, schools, parents/carers, and community partners led to smoother transitions into school and more tailored support for families.
  • Parents/carers consistently valued trusted relationships with staff and gained confidence and knowledge of how to support their children’s development at home.
Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
Parental Resilience – Supporting Mental Health, Building Peer Networks and Empowering Parents

Parental resilience is at the heart of giving children the best possible start in life. When parents and carers are supported to manage stress and adapt to change, they can create nurturing, secure environments and model healthy coping skills for their children. The ABSS programme focused on strengthening parental resilience—recognising that confident, emotionally available parents are key to positive child outcomes, especially in the face of adversity.

Key insights from the ABSS programme:
  • Trusting, person-centred support helps build parents’ confidence, skills, and motivation.
  • Peer support empowers families to strengthen their own resilience and share learning within their communities.
  • Flexible, inclusive approaches that reflect parents’ lived experience improve engagement, especially for fathers, but ongoing participation requires addressing barriers like stigma, time, language, and cultural expectations.
  • Holistic, strengths-based services that meet families’ emotional, social, and practical needs promote self-directed and sustainable change.
Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
Family Voices – Shaping Communities from Within

When families and communities are meaningfully involved in designing and delivering services, support becomes more relevant, responsive, and empowering—especially in areas facing deprivation. The ABSS programme put family voices at the centre, funding and supporting grassroots projects, fostering community leadership, and building trust. By treating parents as equal partners and investing in local solutions, ABSS strengthened community resilience, promoted inclusion, and delivered sustainable impact for families.

Key insights from the ABSS programme:
  • Co-production with parents and carers leads to more effective, relevant, and sustainable services, positioning families as essential partners and agents of change.
  • Peer-led roles such as Parent Champions and Ambassadors connect families, reduce isolation, and embed networks of support that last beyond the programme.
  • Supporting and funding grassroots, community-led projects delivers adaptable, lasting services that reflect real local needs and foster innovation.
  • Natural and outdoor play settings provide holistic support for both children and parents, boosting children’s confidence, autonomy, and emotional wellbeing.
  • Inclusive engagement builds trust, community cohesion, and resilience, especially in areas where barriers to access and participation are greatest.
Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
Systems and Ecosystems: A Better Start Together

Creating meaningful and lasting change for families requires organisations to work in true partnership—sharing leadership, collaborating across sectors, and placing family voices at the heart of service design. A Better Start Southend (ABSS) developed a powerful ecosystem of support, built on co-production and continual learning. This approach transformed local systems, shifting resources towards prevention, upskilling the workforce, and integrating services so that children and families received more joined-up, responsive support.


This report explores how ABSS achieved systems change by mapping community needs, empowering parents/carers and practitioners, and ensuring that services were shaped by the people they were designed for. The ABSS model shows that real progress comes from building connections, fostering shared ownership, and focusing on both relationships and results.

Key outcomes from the ABSS programme:
  • True systems change relies on shared ownership, partnership working, and distributed leadership across organisations, practitioners, and communities.
  • Shifting resources towards prevention and early intervention, combined with upskilling the workforce and sharing learning, enables better support and improved outcomes for families.
  • Integrating services—through shared pathways, data, and cross-referrals—creates seamless, accessible support networks for children and families.
  • Placing family and community voices at the centre of service design through co-production results in more relevant, sustainable, and empowering services.
  • Regularly mapping needs, updating practical tools like directories, and fostering opportunities for collaboration help strengthen networks and ensure families can access the right support at the right time.
Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
Change is the Only Constant: The Inside Story of ABSS

A Better Start Southend (ABSS) was a ten-year journey involving many organisations, families, and professionals working together to improve outcomes for young children and parents in Southend. This partnership thrived on strong relationships, a commitment to co-production, and learning from lived experience. The Inside Story of ABSS shares the key lessons, challenges, and successes from this ambitious programme—highlighting how embracing change, building trust, nurturing local solutions, and using robust evidence can help anyone planning or delivering complex, long-term community initiatives.

Key insights from the ABSS programme:
  • Change and disruption are natural parts of complex programmes and can spark new ideas and improvements.
  • Open communication and understanding different viewpoints are vital for long-term partnerships.
  • Trust is essential and takes time to build—strong relationships are the foundation for successful change.
  • Leaders shape organisational culture, which influences every aspect of a programme.
  • Innovation and effective partnerships need time and space; doing fewer things well is better than moving too fast.
  • Locally designed services work best because they reflect local needs and experiences.
  • Consistent, high-quality evidence is crucial to track progress, demonstrate impact, and guide decision-making from start to finish.
Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
The Impact of COVID-19 on ABSS Services and Families

The COVID-19 pandemic created significant new challenges for families and young children, alongside the social care services that supported them. This particularly impacted Southend’s most deprived communities, widening gaps in development and wellbeing. The ABSS programme’s strong partnerships, flexible services, and trusted staff were crucial in supporting families during this crisis. This report shares how the COVID-19 pandemic affected children’s outcomes, how ABSS services responded, and what lessons can be learned to help build more resilient, accessible support in the future.

Key insights from the ABSS programme:
  • Strong, existing partnerships enabled coordinated and effective support for families during a time of uncertainty.
  • Flexible and responsive services allowed ABSS to quickly adapt and continue to meet evolving family needs.
  • Blended service models, combining digital and face-to-face delivery, improved access and engagement for some families but highlighted digital exclusion for others.
  • Consistent, trusted staff presence helped sustain engagement and offered protection against some of the COVID-19 pandemic’s worst effects for vulnerable families.
Read our Report

STORY OF IMPACT
Now, Next and Beyond: The Legacy of ABSS

Working alongside local parents/carers, ABSS developed services to improve children’s diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and language and communication, as well as build community resilience and achieve systems change.

 

A key objective of the test-and-learn programme was to ensure that an effective legacy strategy was developed and implemented to allow insights and learning from ABSS to persist in the community and beyond into the future. The ABSS legacy strategy supported professionals to secure future funding, access training, and strengthen partnership working and shared learning. For parents and carers, it focused on building confidence, growing peer support networks, and ensuring families had a central role in shaping services through co-production. City Family Community Interest Company (CIC) is taking a leading role in this legacy work, championing early years development and family support in Southend.

This report considers the legacy for ABSS across six areas:
  • Children’s outcomes
  • Parents/carers
  • Systems and networks
  • Services in Southend
  • Extending the legacy with City Family CIC
  • Insights and learning
Read our Report
Learn more about our Stories of Impact
MORE STORIES

ABSS Videos

Sharing stories, experiences and projects from the ABSS programme

The Power of Parent Voices: ABSS Parent Champions

Southend Supports Breastfeeding - A Dad's journey

ABSS Stories of Impact: Specialist Health Service for PMH

Visit our Video Archive
PROUDLY DELIVERING 45 PROJECTS

Over the past 10 years, ABSS has delivered services that help families

  • Improve how they communicate with their little ones
  • Build social and emotional skills
  • Live healthier lives

Funding for the ABSS programme ended in March 2025. Some projects came to a close at this point whilst other projects continued in a different form.

Learn about our Projects
Learn about The Legacy of ABSS
Better Start Southend

Family Resources

Visit our Family Resources page for useful resources, links, tips and downloads.
View our Family Resources

Local Services Map

Visit City Family’s Service Map to explore services available to families across the city of Southend.
Visit the Service Map
WHAT WE'VE LEARNED

ABSS Knowledge Hub

Navigate through our knowledge hub to find out what we have learned from the ABSS programme, alongside the tools and resources we used to get there.

Research
Evaluation
Community Voices
Learning Zone
Stories of Impact
Reports & Insights
"I was so naive and honestly without the team, I would not have carried on [breastfeeding] at all to the point where I'm still carrying on now and I absolutely love it. I give true thanks to the support they gave me because I would have given up.”
Parent
“The value that's added [by ABSS] is more than the sum of the parts, because we're able to work together.”
Service Manager
“I gained friends for life, because through their absolutely amazing work and commitment they have saved my life and my marriage and it help me to be a better parent.”
Parent
"I didn't realise how lonely motherhood can be until I joined this and then actually, I realised I wasn't on my own."
Parent
“I have gained confidence that I don’t feel alone or judged”
Parent