How data-sharing could help children start school ready

If you have ever had to repeat the same concern to a health visitor, nursery worker and council team, this government plan will feel very familiar. In a GOV.UK announcement, ministers set out a new project looking at whether public services can share information more safely so young children get help earlier and arrive at school better prepared. The work is starting with Leeds City Council, the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and councils across the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. Parents will also be asked what it is really like to look for early learning support, and whether better information-sharing could have helped them get there sooner.

The reason ministers are focusing on this is stark. According to the government's own figures, 32% of children start school without the basic skills they need. For children eligible for free school meals, that rises to 48%. When officials talk about being school ready, they are usually talking about the building blocks of a good start: communication, social confidence, routines, independence and the ability to cope with a classroom day. **What this means:** when support comes late, small worries around speech, behaviour or development can become bigger barriers once Reception begins.

The government's case is that one of the biggest problems is not always spotting need, but connecting it. A health visitor may notice a delay, an early years practitioner may see the same thing, and a parent may already be asking for help, but the information can sit in different places and never meet. The original announcement says some services still rely on paper-based processes, which makes joined-up support harder. For families, that gap is not an abstract policy problem. It can mean telling your child's story again and again, chasing referrals, or finding out too late that no one had the full picture. Press releases often talk about systems, but the everyday version is simpler: you need the right person to know the right thing at the right time.

This pilot, described by the Government Digital Service as an Early Years Kickstarter, will test how health visiting, education and childcare data might be joined up more carefully. Ministers say that, over time, it could help registered professionals such as GPs, education staff and speech and language therapists see a fuller view of a child's development instead of isolated snapshots. The plan is not just about computers talking to each other. It is also about whether parents feel heard. That is why the project says it will gather views from parents and carers as well as councils and practitioners. Leeds has already made the point plainly: families often want to tell their story once, not rebuild it from scratch for every service.

There is also a bigger digital government story here. The announcement says lessons from the project could help shape a future collection in the National Data Library, which is meant to turn data.gov.uk into a more organised gateway for public sector data. Right now, ministers say that library only holds non-personal, aggregated information such as traffic data, not detailed records about individual children. That matters because data-sharing in children's services only works if families trust it. The government says any detailed sharing would be secure, ethical and covered by strict data protection standards, but the announcement does not yet answer every question families are likely to ask. **What to watch:** who can see what, how mistakes are corrected, how long information is kept, and how parents are told what is happening with their child's data.

The policy also sits inside a wider early years promise. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the work will build on Best Start Family Hubs, which the government says are already bringing together more SEND support and free stay-and-play sessions. Ministers say up to 1,000 hubs should be operating by 2028, backed by almost £1 billion of investment. There is a clear political message in that. The government is presenting this as part of a broader effort to rebuild the sort of joined-up family support many people associate with Sure Start. It has also set a school readiness goal of 75% of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development by 2028, up from 67.7% now.

Local leaders are using similar language. Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram says better connected services could spot problems earlier and get help to families sooner. Leeds says smarter information-sharing may spare families the strain of repeating themselves while giving professionals a better understanding of a child's previous assessments and experiences. Those arguments are easy to understand, especially if you have ever tried to get help from several agencies at once. They also explain why this story matters beyond one pilot area. If the system works better for the families who are usually asked to do the most admin, that is a real public service gain.

But this is the point where it helps to slow down and read carefully. A pilot is not the same as a solved problem, and joined-up data on its own will not fix underfunding, waiting lists or shortages in specialist support. Better information can help people act faster, but only if there is actual help available once a need is identified. For parents and carers, the promise is simple: fewer forms, less repeating, earlier support. For teachers and health workers, it is the hope that one concern raised in one place does not get lost in another. And for all of us, this is a useful reminder that public services are only truly joined up when families can feel the difference, not just read about it in a government announcement.