Early Intervention (EI) is a simple concept.  It is about changing our culture from late reaction to Early Intervention, ensuring every child is able to realise their full potential by developing a range of skills to flourish and progress in life.

It is about addressing, directly, the root causes of social problems and in doing so not only improving outcomes for children but also saving money. How much better to reach the child before he is excluded from school, or commits a crime or goes into care – for the child, family, community and wider society.

Early Intervention, and the logic behind it, is not a new idea.  There is growing consensus and national and local government, leading experts and the voluntary and community sector have all promoted the concept of earlier, targeted action to tackle social ills. 

While some associate EI with ‘early years', the Early Intervention Foundation's (EIF) focus is broader, ranging from conception to early adulthood.  While the first few years of life are a crucial period for babies and very young children – attachment, rapid learning, physical and brain development – we are equally concerned with what enables a child to be ready for school, work and becoming parents themselves.

Development of character, as well as cognitive skills, is vital.  Both work side by side and evidence shows they are strong predictors of future personal and economic success.  Evidence also shows that measures solely focused on improving cognition have limited success, precisely because they overlook the importance of character and personal development.

The EIF is focused on a cluster of issues – social and emotional skills, language and communication, impulse control and mental health.

Without these often taken-for-granted tools, children find it difficult to form relationships and to learn and thrive at school and beyond.

In tough times, the so-called ‘business case' for EI has never been more important.

Luckily, the economics are in our favour and form a considerable part of our argument.  An evaluation of the US-based Family-Nurse Partnership (FNP) – an intervention that targets young, first-time mothers from disadvantaged backgrounds – estimated that the programme made savings of more than five times its cost by the time the children of high-risk families had reached age 15.

Savings resulted from reduced expenditure in the welfare and criminal justice systems, higher tax revenues and improved physical and mental health.  In a more austere context, as local authorities try to cope with reducing budgets, the pressure to look radically at how they deliver services has never been greater.

The growing pressure on children's social care services is a stark illustration of the need for more effective action earlier, in order to lay the foundations of good parenting and a nurturing family environment for children in families needing extra support.

Nationally, the foundation will make the case that EI is an investment, cost-saving
approach while working locally with places to tailor and improve their EI business cases, for many an urgent task.

But, for EI to work to best effect, we must ensure the right programmes are implemented in the right ways.  There is now a growing body of evidence which offers guidance as to the kinds of interventions that can make a powerful difference to children's lives as well as their costs and benefits.

We are struck by the determination of local authorities to focus on what really works and their commitment to testing this out.  As a Government-designated ‘What Works Centre' for determining what is effective in EI, we are bringing together the best-published evidence and aim to make it accessible to all who need it.

Our role is best summed up by ‘3 As':