Sure Start has major health benefits for children in most disadvantaged areas

A new evaluation from the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that Sure Start, a programme targeted at parents and children under the age of four living in the most disadvantaged areas, has major health benefits for children. The report found that Sure Start significantly reduced hospitalisations among children by the time they finished primary school and that these effects built over time. It found no significant effect at age 5, but by age 11 greater Sure Start coverage prevented around 5,500 hospitalisations per year (18% of the pre-Sure-Start baseline). It also found that at younger ages, a reduction in infection-related hospitalisations played a big role in