Overview

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This report brings together our annual data for 2025–2026, highlighting how families and children engage with our services across the community, alongside key trends in early years care and education.

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Overall, the data shows strong reach across the borough, with continued high registration rates and growing impact through targeted services such as Grow Wild, Baby Bank, and Early Years support.

 

Reach and Engagement

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Registration across the borough remains a key strength, with 103% of children registered against the community population, exceeding local authority targets.

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While overall engagement reduced compared to the previous year, 13,488 children were still actively engaged in Family Hubs, delivered by our multi agency team. This represents 71% of registered children and 73% of the wider community. 9568 of these individuals used services delivered by our charity.

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This decrease reflects changes in delivery, including service redesign and contract changes impacting how new birth families are contacted and supported during 2025, rather than reduced need.

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Across neighbourhoods, patterns varied:

• Central saw the strongest growth in registrations

• South West experienced the largest decrease

• Engagement reduced across most areas, with some local variation  

 

Supporting Families and Target Groups

 

The data shows positive progress in reaching families who are less likely to access support and services:

• Increased engagement with children with SEND and additional needs

• Improved reach to male lone carers and teenage parents

• Continued support for families experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage

 

At the same time, there are areas for development, including:

• Lower engagement with some carers with disabilities

• Ongoing need to strengthen consistent engagement across all groups

 

Early Years Care and Education

 

Across our Early Years settings:

• The number of 0–4 year olds attending has increased, alongside a small rise in older children accessing provision

• There has been an increase in children identified with SEND

• Ethnic diversity remains strong, although the proportion of children from ethnic minority groups has slightly decreased

 

Data also highlights changes linked to the 2025 Index of Multiple Deprivation update, which has altered how deprivation is measured across areas.

 

Key Services Making an Impact

 

Grow Wild

Grow Wild continues to be one of the highest-impact programmes:

• 2,811 individuals and 1,279 families reached

• Significant increase in participation compared to the previous year

• Strong engagement through play-based, outdoor learning opportunities

 

Baby Bank

Support for families facing financial hardship has grown significantly:

• 628 individuals supported, up from 501

• 403 families received essential items

• Over 18,800 items distributed, including nappies, clothing, and toys

Demand remains high, with strong links to food banks and wider support services.

 

Early Years Social Prescribing

• 69 referrals received, with 495 support contacts delivered

• Increased engagement with families living in more deprived areas

• Strong partnership working to connect families to the support they need

 

CoCo East and Community Programmes

• 534 individuals engaged through CoCo East activities

• Family play sessions, wellbeing support, and Grow Wild activities were key drivers of engagement

• Continued focus on building connection, confidence, and community

 

Ready for School

• Lower overall reach, but significantly increased depth of engagement

• Average contact per child increased substantially, showing more intensive, targeted support

 

Communities We Serve

 

Across all services:

• The largest group engaged remains White British, followed by Other White, Pakistani, and mixed backgrounds

• Services continue to reach a diverse and changing community, with varying levels of engagement across different groups.

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Key Insight

 

A clear message from this year’s data is that:

Demand for support remains high, particularly for families experiencing financial pressure, SEND needs, and early years vulnerability.

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At the same time, there is strong evidence that:

• Targeted, relational services increase both reach and impact

• Programmes such as Grow Wild, Baby Bank, and integrated family support play a vital role in meeting community need

 

Conclusion

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Despite changes in delivery and external factors, our services continue to reach a significant proportion of the local community and provide meaningful support to children and families.

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The focus moving forward will be to:

• Strengthen engagement across all communities

• Improve consistency of data and SEND identification

• Continue building joined-up, accessible services that respond to local need

 

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