The United Kingdom government has initiated a comprehensive project designed to improve data-sharing between public services, aiming to ensure children receive targeted support to become fully “school-ready.”
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall formally launched the initiative, dubbed the Early Years Kickstarter, on Thursday. The project will explore methods for securely connecting data from health visitors, early education practitioners, and childcare providers. The primary objective is to transition away from isolated, paper-based assessment records toward a unified digital system that provides a complete overview of a child’s developmental needs.
According to data released by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, 32 percent of children currently begin primary education without the basic skills required. This figure rises to 48 percent among children eligible for free school meals, directly impacting long-term educational outcomes and social mobility.
“Too many children are arriving at school without the skills they need, and too many parents have had to fight through a complex, disconnected system to get their child the support they deserve,” Kendall stated during a ministerial roundtable held at a Family Hub in Fulham. “We are determined to change old-fashioned public services where assessments are recorded by paper and children’s needs are missed.”
The pilot phase of the project will commence in collaboration with Leeds City Council, the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, and councils within the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. Local authorities and healthcare professionals in these regions will gather feedback from parents and carers regarding their experiences navigating early learning support systems.
The data gathered through this initiative will inform the development of a new collection framework under the National Data Library (NDL). The government emphasized that any integration of health and education records will be underpinned by strict data protection standards, ensuring that sensitive information is only accessible to authorized professionals, such as general practitioners and speech therapists.
The project aligns with the government’s broader policy target, established in the Plan for Change, to ensure 75 percent of five-year-olds reach a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessment by 2028.
