Babies in Lockdown

Best Beginnings, Home-Start UK and Parent-Infant Foundation, all leading organisations advocating for parents and babies, commissioned Critical Research to work with them to gain insights into the impact COVID-19 is having on babies and their parents of all backgrounds from across the UK.

We were supported by young parents and influencers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in the development, testing and promotion of the survey in our endeavour to capture and represent the experiences of parents of all ages and backgrounds.

The online survey was live between 29th April to 3rd June 2020.

Read the report, here

The Babies in Lockdown report showed some of the challenges faced by parents and the impact it has on children in their earliest years. Evidence shows that pregnancy and the earliest years lay the foundations for a child’s lifelong health, learning and happiness.

That is why we are encouraging the Government to introduce the Parent-Infant Premium as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. It will provide local areas with additional money to help pay for services to support families during pregnancy until their child is three.

The Parent-Infant Premium is similar to the Pupil and Early Years Premiums but while the Pupil Premium addresses gaps in learning once children are at school, the Parent-Infant Premium could support families to prevent these gaps in the first place. The Parent-Infant Premium would give local areas £1,000 per baby that meets the eligibility criteria.

This new idea could give local areas vital extra money, but we need your help. Please, get involved. Write to your MP, share our briefing document, or just send a tweet to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

How to get involved

Report authors

Becky Saunders, Child Psychotherapist and Head of Policy & Development at Home-Start UK 
Sally Hogg, Head of Policy and Campaigning at the Parent-Infant Foundation.

With contributions from:
Alison Baum OBE, Founder and CEO of Best Beginnings
Nilushka Perera and Rose Davidson from the Evaluation, Impact and Policy team at Best Beginnings Amanda Julius and Stephanie Jones, Volunteers at Best Beginnings
Alex Rhodes, PhD student and researcher at Best Beginnings
Agnes Agyepong, Parent Engagement Programme Manager at Best Beginnings
Dr Beckie Lang, CEO of the Parent-Infant Foundation
Lorraine Barclay, Best Beginnings
Alanna Clear, Senior Communications Manager at the Parent-Infant Foundation
Peter Grigg, CEO of Home-Start UK
Matt Hann, Head of Communications at Home-Start UK.

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