Home-Start UK has been awarded a £1 million grant over five years from the 1001 Critical Days Foundation to establish the pioneering Dad Matters programme across the country.  

The investment, which was announced by Dame Andrea Leadsom on Wednesday 10 September to launch the new 1001 Critical Days Foundation, will enable Home-Start to establish Dad Matters as a national programme, supporting more dads to build strong, loving relationships with their babies during the critical first 1001 days. 

Research shows that when dads are engaged and confident in their parenting role, families thrive. Involved fathers are linked to better cognitive, social, and emotional development in children, improved maternal mental health and stronger family stability. Yet despite this clear evidence, support for dads remains sparse and is not yet embedded in national policy or local commissioning frameworks. 

Dad Matters is a Home-Start powered service focused specifically on supporting the early relationships between babies and their dads in the early years, using targeted outreach, peer support and partnership working to reach dads who often find themselves excluded.  

It helps dads to understand their role in early child development, build strong relationships with their baby, improve their mental health, and engage confidently with services around them.  

Speaking at the launch, Dame Andrea said:

“For almost 30 years, since my first son was born, I have been passionate about giving every baby the best start. The science is stark - the experiences of a baby during the period from pregnancy to age two form the building blocks for their lifelong emotional and physical health. My own experience of postnatal depression showed me how tough those early days can be and how vital it is to support mums, dads and carers. By funding charities including those announced today, along with Home-Start UK, and by campaigning globally, the 1001 Critical Days Foundation will help ensure every baby has the best possible start.”

Originally developed by Home-Start HOST in Greater Manchester in 2017, Dad Matters has supported over 40,000 dads through universal engagement and almost 2,000 dads through one-to-one support, with 77% improving parent-infant relationship knowledge and 84% reporting improved wellbeing.  

In addition, Dad Matters training has been delivered to over 15,000 professionals to build trust, increase referrals and encourage Dad-inclusive practice. 

Thanks to this new investment from the 1001 Critical Days Foundation, Home-Start will:

• Establish a scalable training and delivery model to support national expansion.
• Support the expansion of Dad Matters to new sites, with a focus on embedding the service within Family Hub models across the UK.
• Develop training and resources to grow dad-inclusive practice in wider family support services across the national network of Home-Start charities.

Since it began work in 2017, Dad Matters has helped thousands of dads. Mike Sandiford, a father supported by Dad Matters and Home-Start, attended the event in Parliament and shared his story with MPs, peers and funders. Mike spoke openly of his own mental health challenges during the early months of his son’s life and how Dad Matters provided support during his darkest moments. 

Mike said:  

"I went through some very traumatic experiences when my son was born, which led to some incredibly dark times. Dad Matters helped me understand that what I was going through was normal, but without Dad Matters and Home-Start, I might not be here to share my story, or to see my son getting ready to start school this year." 

During 2023–24, Home-Start UK supported 75,500 babies and young children in 58,850 families. This investment will mean even more families benefit from dad focused support, complementing Home-Start’s longstanding work in helping parents to build strong parent-child bonds, nurturing family relationships, and giving every child the best start in life. 

Kieran Anders, Project Lead for Dad Matters at Home-Start UK, said: 

“Since 2017, Dad Matters has been building stronger father-infant relationships and creating safe spaces for dads to share, learn, and connect. This funding allows us to scale our work across the country, embed dad friendly practice within Family Hubs, and make sure dads are supported where they are in homes and communities nationwide.” 

To inform this next phase of growth, Home-Start UK commissioned an independent evaluation which shows Dad Matters is achieving meaningful progress in all three of its core outcome areas: 

• Improved relationship, attachment and bonding between dad and baby. 
• Improved mental health and wellbeing for dads. 
• Increased access to wider early years and family services for dads.

Sarah McMullen, Director of Network Impact, at Home-Start UK said: 

“At Home-Start, we believe that every baby deserves the fullest of opportunities to enjoy a healthy, happy childhood and to experience the nurturing early relationships that lay the foundations for everything that follows. Providing strong support for parents and carers is absolutely key to this, and we welcome the 1001 Critical Days Foundation’s firm focus on strengthening frontline community support for the whole family. We are delighted to have launched our new strategic partnership with the Foundation to establish the Dad Matters programme nationally. By supporting dads with their wellbeing and to be actively involved and nurturing caregivers, we enable the strong, loving relationships that are essential for a baby’s healthy development, helping more babies to have the best start in life.”