Best Start in Life Plan 2026 to 2031

Welcome to the Stockton-on-Tees Best Start Plan 2026 to 2031, which sets out how partners across the Borough will work together to give every child the best possible start in life, from pregnancy through to age five.

The Best Start Plan sets out our shared vision, ambitions and priorities for supporting children and families in Stockton-on-Tees. It reflects our joint commitment to building a strong, joined up system of support that works alongside families and communities, strengthens early help and prevention and helps improve outcomes for children in their earliest years.

The Best Start Plan has been co‑produced with a wide range of partners who share a collective responsibility and commitment to improving outcomes for children and families. This includes:

• families
• Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
• Stockton Parent Carer Forum (SPCF)
• North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENCICB)
• providers of NHS services including Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDTF), North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (NTH) and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV)
• early education providers including private, voluntary and independent settings and schools
• Voluntary and Community Sector organisations

Partnership working and co-production are central to how this plan will be delivered, underpinned by a shared determination to learn, adapt and continuously improve our system so that it truly meets the needs of children and families in Stockton-on-Tees. To achieve this, we have worked hand in hand with partners across the children's system and with families themselves.

We have actively gone out into communities to speak with families face-to-face, through focus group sessions in Family Hubs and conversations in settings they know and trust, as well as undertaking wider online consultation. These interactions have allowed us to capture, in families' own words, what matters most to them and what they need from services. Their insights have strengthened our understanding of the barriers they encounter and the support that makes the greatest difference, enabling us to co-produce a plan that reflects real needs, values family strengths, and sets a shared direction that partners and families feel ownership of.

Note: In this strategy, the term 'parent' is used inclusively to refer to any significant adult in a child's life and should be understood interchangeably with parent or carer.