Cllr Dr Wendy Taylor, chair of the Local Government Association's (LGA) Health and Wellbeing Committee, called for the extension of Start for Life funding for enhanced services to councils newly joining the Best Start Family Hubs programme.

The LGA said 78 councils were without Healthy Babies funding, (formerly known as Start for Life funding) for enhanced health programmes that would otherwise provide targeted early intervention support for perinatal mental health, parent-infant relationships and infant feeding.

LGA research found extending early intervention models to the wider early years age group – children aged nought to five – beyond the current age three-to-four-year focus is most effective for influencing good level of development (GLD) outcomes by ensuring access to support at the earliest opportunity.

The Government has set a national target of 75% GLD outcomes for five-year-olds by 2028.

Cllr Taylor said: ‘We are urging the Government to review funding decisions to ensure a level playing field for all councils so that every child, regardless of where they live, can access the support they need. Without equitable funding the promise of Family Hubs and achievement of our GLD targets cannot be fully realised.'