Case for Action

Contents

• Demographics
• Existing services
• Summary of key strengths
• Summary of key gaps

Source: the Office of National Statistics (ONS) mid‑year population estimates for 2024 

Summary of key strengths

Torbay’s early years system has developed into a collaborative and well‑integrated partnership, with strong alignment between the Local Authority, Public Health Nursing, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (TSDFT), Early Years providers and the voluntary and community sector. This joined up approach is one of the system’s most prominent strengths, creating a coherent offer for families from pregnancy to age five and ensuring children receive timely, coordinated support rather than isolated interventions. Key contributions to this include:

• The Family Hubs model, which has been central to this transformation. Co‑location of services, consistent pathways and shared values have created a system that families experience as supportive, relational and accessible.
• A high‑quality Early Years sector, with 98% of inspected providers rated Good or Outstanding and consistently high take up of funded entitlements, meaning most children access high‑quality provision early in life.
• Strong health visiting coverage, with 98.6% of children receiving their ASQ3 assessment, enabling almost universal early identification of need.
• Growing capability in data interpretation and use, allowing partners to better understand children’s development and target support more effectively.
• Improved data sharing across partners, supported by pathways such as the Early Years Development Pathway, which align assessment information to strengthen early identification and reduce duplication.
• A wide range of evidence‑based interventions, including PEEP, Solihull, Early Talk Boost, Incredible Years, Triple P and Video Interaction Guidance (VIG), all contributing to improvements in communication, early relationships and parental confidence.
• Strong Perinatal Infant Mental Health and infant feeding support, with breastfeeding rates rising to 58% at 6–8 weeks and Public Health Nursing achieving UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) Gold accreditation. 

Summary of key gaps

Despite strong foundations, Torbay continues to face several systemwide gaps that limit progress in early child development and constrain the pace at which inequalities can be reduced. While services are increasingly coordinated, outcomes show that some groups of children are still not benefiting fully from the local offer, and areas of inconsistency across practice, pathways and engagement exist. These gaps highlight the need for greater reach, stronger alignment and more targeted use of evidence‑based approaches. Key challenges include:

• Persistent inequalities in early child development, with disadvantaged children, those eligible for FSM, children with English as an Additional Language, boys and summer born children achieving lower outcomes across the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) that contribute to GLD.
• Underperformance in key developmental areas, particularly fine motor skills, early maths, self‑regulation, listening and attention, and managing self, all of which significantly influence whether children achieve a GLD.
• Inconsistent engagement from priority families, including young parents and families with EAL, who are not routinely accessing HLE, parenting or Healthy Babies interventions despite being most likely to benefit.
• Limited capacity to deliver evidence‑based interventions at scale, affecting reach and reducing the system’s ability to intervene early and consistently for children identified as at risk.
• Variation in approaches to school readiness and transitions, with no single standardised transition process or shared understanding of school readiness expectations across settings, schools and professionals.
• SEND pathways that are not uniformly understood, leading to variation in early identification, differing interpretations of Ordinarily Available Provision, and inconsistent referral routes across partners.
• Gaps in data and digital integration, particularly around tracking children’s development between the 2.3 year ASQ review and school entry, and continued reliance on manual data collation across multiple systems.
• Under‑representation of priority cohorts in co‑production and parent voice activity, alongside inconsistent “you said, we did” feedback loops, meaning lived experience is not always fully embedded in service development.