National Children's Bureau

National Children's Bureau Our mission is to improve the systems that babies, children, young people and families rely on to thrive

For over 60 years, the National Children's Bureau has been fighting to reduce the inequalities that prevent children from achieving their full potential.

The Working Together with Parents Network, the newest member of the National Children’s Bureau family, is helping profes...
02/09/2026

The Working Together with Parents Network, the newest member of the National Children’s Bureau family, is helping professionals across the UK share learning, build connections and improve support for parents with learning disabilities and learning difficulties, and their children.

During 2025-26, the network continued to bring together colleagues from adult and children’s social care, health, education, legal services and independent advocacy to work towards a shared vision of more effective joint working.

Our work included:

- Publishing a research briefing showing how Adult Services and Children’s Services can collaborate more effectively.

- Developing collaborative partnerships with academic researchers to inform research proposals and joint projects.

- Continuing to grow our network of more than 1,300 members.

- Publishing a regular newsletter for professionals and researchers.

If you work with parents with learning disabilities or learning difficulties, or have research or practice insights to share, this is a valuable space to connect, learn and contribute.

Find out more and join the network: https://www.ncb.org.uk/WTWPN

01/09/2026

Many children and young people who receive social services support experience mental health difficulties. And yet, until recently, we had very little evidence on the effectiveness of the mental health care provided by the NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
The CAMHS Referrals and Outcomes for Adolescents and Children with Social Workers (COACHES) study was a four-year collaboration between NCB, the University of Cambridge, Kingston University, King’s College London, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and the Care Leavers Association, which examined data from over 100,000 young people across two NHS trusts.
You can read more about COACHES and the evidence published to date here: https://www.ncb.org.uk/COACHES
Tomorrow, project partners will present the findings of their research at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge at an event attended by invited academics, policymakers and children’s sector representatives.
Qualitative contributions by young people and parents with direct experience of mental health and wellbeing interventions within the social care system have been at the heart of the project and co-production with experts-by-experience will be a key theme of the event.
We’ll share updates from the event tomorrow and provide some more detailed reflections later in the week.
In the meantime, here is one of those experts-by-experience, Jack Smith, offering his perspective on COACHES findings first published in 2024 that showed children and young people with social work involvement were more likely to be refused access to CAMHS treatments, often because these children’s circumstances were considered too “unstable” for mental health support.

Behind every strong campaign, every credible policy recommendation, and every meaningful call for change, there has to b...
26/08/2026

Behind every strong campaign, every credible policy recommendation, and every meaningful call for change, there has to be something solid: robust evidence.

That is why the evidence NCB produces is so central to our work. It gives us the confidence to speak clearly about what children, young people, families and other adults need, and it helps ensure that the solutions we advocate for are grounded in reality rather than assumptions.

Across NCB, our research activity brings together rigorous analysis, practice expertise, system insight and, crucially, the voices and experiences of children, young people, parents, carers and professionals. That combination matters. Evidence is strongest when it does not sit at a distance from people’s lives, but helps explain what is happening, why it is happening, and what needs to change.

Over the past year, NCB’s evidence work has covered some of the biggest issues affecting children and families: preventing youth violence, improving fairness in children’s services funding, strengthening SEND systems, supporting children returning home from care, understanding the lasting impact of the pandemic, improving school readiness, and helping services respond better to vulnerability and safeguarding concerns.

These are complex challenges. They do not lend themselves to easy answers. But careful evidence generation helps cut through complexity. It identifies what is working, where gaps remain, who is being missed, and how policy and practice can become more effective and equitable.

It also helps us make the case for change with authority. When NCB contributes evidence to parliamentary committees, government departments, local authorities, inspectorates, funders and delivery partners, we are able to bring forward insight that is practical, inclusive and focused on outcomes. That means our work can influence not only what decision-makers think, but what they do next.

Find out more on P29 of our Annual Impact Report: https://buff.ly/o5yYicn

How can we improve outcomes for babies, parents and communities, particularly in areas of high deprivation?Evidence from...
25/08/2026

How can we improve outcomes for babies, parents and communities, particularly in areas of high deprivation?

Evidence from A Better Start shows that health visiting has a key role to play: through additional universal contacts, sustained home-visiting programmes for families at greatest risk, and paid peer workforces that complement professional teams. It also builds capacity, generates employment, and reduces longer-term pressure on health, education and social care systems.

“I think the extra visits are a good thing, because as you see someone more, you trust them more. My family isn’t here, so having someone to talk to and having someone to help is really reassuring especially with my first baby.”
– Parent, Blackpool Enhanced Health Visiting Pathway

Key recommendations:

1. Protect and invest in universal health visiting as core preventative infrastructure.
Health visiting is the only universal service with reach into every family with a baby or young child. It must be resourced to deliver, not just survive.

2. Move from a reactive, tiered model to proportionate universalism, with more universal contacts.
Blackpool’s eight-contact model and Bradford’s experience demonstrate the value of additional universal touchpoints alongside more intensive support for families at greater risk. Sustained relationships with the same health visitor are central to impact.

3. Invest in workforce training, supervision and continuous professional development.
Across all sites, additional training in perinatal and infant mental health, attachment, ACEs, speech and language, and trauma-informed practice has been essential to delivering enhanced models.

4. Strengthen data infrastructure and evaluation to track impact and inform commissioning.
ABS partnerships have invested in robust evaluation and data systems, including the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub.

5. Align health visiting with Family Hubs, the Healthy Child Programme and the NHS 10-Year Health Plan.
Health visiting should be central to the Government’s shift from treatment to prevention.

Read the full policy briefing:https://www.ncb.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/files/Policy%20briefing_health%20visiting.pdf

Find out more about A Better Start: ncb.org.uk/ABetterStart, a The National Lottery Community Fund funded programme

Institute of Health Visiting Better Start Blackpool

In 2025-26, the for Disabled Children played a central role in supporting far-reaching reform of the SEND system - incl...
24/08/2026

In 2025-26, the for Disabled Children played a central role in supporting far-reaching reform of the SEND system - including through our work as the Department for Education’s Strategic Reform Partner for SEND.

That work mattered: it helped bring together children and young people, parent carers, practitioners, local leaders, voluntary and community organisations, and national policymakers at a critical moment for the future of support for disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs.

But our role in SEND reform was only one part of a much wider programme of work across the year.

CDC worked across policy and practice, drawing on the strength of its networks to make sure that children, young people and families were not an afterthought in national change, but central to it. We supported engagement on reform, helped translate complex policy into accessible information, convened voices from across education, health and social care, and shared practical learning with the people and organisations working directly with families every day.

Through our young people who work with us as ‘FLARE’, parent carer engagement, roundtables, conferences, resources, training and local system support, CDC continued to amplify lived experience and turn insight into action. We celebrated effective practice through the CDC SEND Awards, supported SENDIAS services through the Information,

Advice and Support Services Network, and helped practitioners and leaders strengthen approaches to inclusion, co-production, commissioning, safeguarding and outcomes.
That combination - national influence, sector convening and practical support - is what makes CDC distinctive. It is also why CDC’s place within the National Children’s Bureau family is so important.

As part of NCB, CDC contributes specialist expertise on disability and SEND to a wider mission: building better childhoods and brighter futures for children, young people, families and adults across the UK. CDC brings deep sector knowledge, trusted relationships and a clear commitment to the rights and aspirations of disabled children and young people. NCB brings its broader family of specialists, and expertise in research, practice improvement, policy influencing and partnership working.

Looking back on 2025-26, CDC’s support for SEND reform stands out but it should be seen as part of a bigger picture. Across the year, CDC helped strengthen the systems, relationships and practical tools needed to make inclusion real. We worked with government, the voluntary and community sector, local areas, practitioners, children, young people and families to keep the focus where it belongs: on rights, inclusion, participation and better outcomes.

There is still much more to do. But CDC’s work in 2025-26 shows the value of a specialist, trusted, collaborative voice working both inside and alongside the system - challenging, supporting, convening and helping to shape change.

Find out more in our Annual Impact Report: https://buff.ly/o5yYicn

18/08/2026

Our recent national policy work showed the power of bringing evidence, lived experience and sector expertise together to drive and influence the legislative areas that affect children, young people, families and adults.

We’re proud of our work across child poverty, children’s social care, early years, SEND, health, bereavement support and wider social care policy, helping shape national debates, convene partners, support government engagement and keep children’s voices at the heart of decision-making.

Highlights included working through the End Child Poverty Coalition to set out clear tests for the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, pressing for structural welfare reform and contributing to progress on removing the two-child limit. In children’s social care, NCB helped build sector consensus after the Independent Review, supported parliamentary and government engagement, and played a central role in securing an additional £2 billion for children’s social care through the Spending Review.

Through NCB and the Council for Disabled Children, we also helped shape the SEND reform agenda by convening roundtables with experts and practitioners, producing policy briefings, supporting national engagement with children, young people and families, and feeding sector expertise directly into government advisory structures.

This work reflects what NCB does best: building consensus, amplifying the experiences of children and families, and turning insight into practical policy change.

As we look ahead, we remain committed to working with partners across the country to help create the robust policy and legislation that can improves lives and give brighter futures.

Find out more about our national policy work at: https://lnkd.in/e9tTx_tt

17/08/2026

When Research in Practice joined the National Children’s Bureau family in 2024, we shared an ambition to strengthen and innovate practice and policy across children’s and adults’ social care, safeguarding, youth justice, SEND and health, by bringing together research, evidence, practice wisdom and lived experience.

As Research in Practice marks its 30th anniversary, our latest impact report shows just how far these ambitions have been achieved.

In 2025-26, Research in Practice has:
• Supported more than 210 local authority, health, voluntary sector and university partners.
• Delivered 495 workforce development opportunities, reaching over 5,000 diverse professionals.

From resources on exploitation, safeguarding and family help, to work on pre-birth practice, adult social care, ethical data use and support for parents with learning disabilities, this work supports professionals to turn evidence into better outcomes for children, young people, families, adults and communities.

The report also highlights the power of co-production in strengthening evidence-informed practice. This includes amplifying the voices of people with lived experience, such as:
• Resources developed with Autistic parents and practitioners.
• Learning from people involved in Family and Group Conferences.
• Workshops co-produced and co-delivered with adults who draw on care and support.
• A blog with Salar on arriving in the UK as a separated child seeking asylum.
• An Ofsted-commissioned report sharing children’s and parents’ views on vulnerability and how it should be recognised in inspection processes.

And Research in Practice has helped push NCB's thinking beyond childhood and transitions, encouraging a truly life course approach to wellbeing and opportunity. A great example is the Working Together With Parents Network, which supports practitioners to work more effectively with parents with learning disabilities and learning difficulties.

A huge thank you to everyone across Research in Practice and NCB whose expertise, collaboration and commitment are helping to build better childhoods, stronger communities and brighter futures.
Read our Impact Report: https://www.ncb.org.uk/about/who-we-are/our-annual-reports/annual-impact-report-2025-26

On International Youth Day, we're reflecting on the importance of listening to the voices of young people and what matte...
12/08/2026

On International Youth Day, we're reflecting on the importance of listening to the voices of young people and what matters most to them.

We asked NCB's Children and Young People Media Group what they think are the biggest issues affecting young people today.

They spoke about the need for earlier mental health support, the growing impact of the cost of living crisis on everyday opportunities, the effects of climate change and the challenge of navigating misinformation in a rapidly changing digital world.

Their perspectives highlight not only the challenges they face, but also the solutions they want to see. Prevention over crisis response, fair access to opportunities and the knowledge and skills to thrive in a digital world.
We remain committed to ensuring young people's voices are at the heart of decisions that affect their lives. At NCB, we believe young people's voices should be heard, valued and acted upon. Today, we're celebrating the insight, resilience and determination of the young people helping to shape a better future for everyone.

We believe that children and young people are experts in their own lives. Their experiences, perspectives and ideas make...
12/08/2026

We believe that children and young people are experts in their own lives. Their experiences, perspectives and ideas make policy, practice and services stronger, more relevant and more effective. Real change happens when the views, wishes, and experiences of children, young people, families and adults are at the heart of decision-making.

In 2025/26, we:
🌻 Involved 1,248 children and young people, and 535 parents/carers in shaping research, policy, and practice.
🌻Embedded youth voice throughout our work, from internal governance to national policy reform.

To spotlight on one area of impact:
SEND Reform consultation: Our FLARE group directly advised the Department for Education, influencing the language, accessibility, and priorities of the government’s SEND reforms. We carried out engagement work to enable 423 young people (aged 8–25) to share their views with policymakers. As one FLARE member put it:

“Children and Young people must be at the heart of decision making, especially in things that involve us.”

Other recent highlights:
🌻Anti-Bullying Champions: The Young Anti-Bullying Alliance (YABA) empowered 13–17-year-olds to stand up to bullying, share their stories in Parliament, and shape national conversations. Their insights informed school programmes and even Premier League training sessions!
🌻National Youth Strategy: Young NCB members worked with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, shaping the future of youth services across the UK.
🌻Youth Voice Matters 2027: Over 100 disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs attended our annual conference - designed and led by young people - building confidence, leadership, and advocacy skills, and even speaking directly with the Minister for School Standards.
🌻Bereavement Advocacy: Young people from the Childhood Bereavement Network presented to government and the UK Commission on Bereavement, making sure support for grieving children is safe and effective.
🌻Participation Practice: NCB supported over 90 organisations, youth groups, and schools to embed meaningful young people’s participation, including supporting young people to lead sessions at national events.
🌻Co-production in Practice: Research in Practice developed resources with autistic parents, co-produced workshops with adults drawing on care support, and published reports capturing children’s and parents’ views on vulnerability and inclusion.

NCB’s approach isn’t just about listening, it’s about action. By making lived experience a driving force, we’re building policies and services that truly reflect what children, young people, families and adults need. Our work proves that when young people and other with lived experience lead, everyone benefits.
Find out more in our Annual Impact Report for 2025-26:
https://buff.ly/XbOLEVS

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11/08/2026

A reminder that the Council for Disabled Children is running a programme of online training sessions for professionals in the SEND system!

See the full calendar and book here: https://buff.ly/QxV6YZS

What do the topics include?

💥 Navigating Health and SEND
💥 Understanding the SEND reforms: what are they and the impact on you
Experts at Hand
💥 Coproducing in times of change
💥 SEND in the Early Years
💥 Understanding the social care offer for inclusion
💥 Inclusion Bases

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