Every family hub in England is to offer the Healthy Babies service
What happened
On 30 September 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care announced that the Healthy Babies programme will be expanded to every local authority in England. Healthy Babies is a package of support for new parents. It includes extra help with feeding a baby, support for parents' mental health, and advice on building a strong bond with a new baby. It sits alongside the health visiting and midwifery support that families already get. The plan is for this support to be available at more than 1,000 Best Start family hubs by 2028. Family hubs are buildings in the community where several services share one roof, so a parent can get health advice, early years help and family support in one visit. Until now, the picture has been patchy. The government said more than half of local authorities have family hubs that do not offer Healthy Babies services. That means some families can walk into a hub and get the full package, while families a few miles away cannot. The announcement was made by the Health and Social Care Secretary, Yvette Cooper. The government says the approach follows the principles of Sure Start, the earlier programme that brought early years services together in one place. The same announcement included other measures. A new workforce plan for adult social care is due by the end of 2026. Care workers are to get the first national collective pension scheme for the sector. A new champion for unpaid carers will be appointed. And the government said it now treats violence against women and girls as a public health problem, backed by £49.4 million for Integrated Care Boards over three years.
Why this matters
The first weeks and months with a new baby are hard for most people. They are harder still if you have to chase support across several buildings, phone numbers and waiting lists. Feeding is a good example. Many parents want to breastfeed and run into problems in the first fortnight. If skilled help is not easy to reach in those days, the chance to fix the problem can pass. The same is true of low mood after birth. Help early is usually simpler than help late. There is also a fairness point. At the moment, what you are offered depends partly on which council area you live in. Expanding Healthy Babies to every local authority is meant to close that gap, so a family in a small market town gets the same offer as a family in a city. For anyone who already uses a family hub, this is likely to mean more on the timetable rather than a brand new building. For anyone who has never been inside one, it may be worth finding out what your nearest hub does.
What the evidence actually says
It is worth being clear about what has and has not been proved here. This is a plan, not a result. The announcement sets out what will be offered and by when. It does not report that outcomes for babies have already improved, because the full rollout runs to 2028. What is documented is the structure. The government published guidance for local authorities on Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies in June 2026, which sets out what councils are expected to provide. In March 2026 the government said hundreds of Best Start Family Hubs had already opened across the country. So the buildings and the staff are not starting from nothing. The government's own description of the problem is also useful evidence. It states plainly that more than half of local authorities have hubs without Healthy Babies services. That is an official admission that access is uneven, which is the gap this announcement is meant to fill. What we do not yet have is published data showing how much difference Healthy Babies makes to feeding rates, to parents' mental health, or to how many families need help later on. Those numbers should follow as the programme spreads. Until then, the honest position is that the direction looks sensible and the results are still to come.
Qurexa perspective
We deliver prescriptions and groceries across Lincolnshire, and a large share of our customers are people for whom a trip out is genuinely difficult. New parents are high on that list. If you are six days into life with a newborn, a 40-minute round trip to collect a prescription is not a small errand. Neither is a supermarket shop. Where we can take that off a family's list, it frees time and energy for the things that actually need a parent present, including getting to a hub appointment. We would also say this plainly: a family hub is not something you have to earn, and asking for help with feeding or with your own mood is not a sign that anything has gone wrong. It is what the service exists for.
Practical advice
If you are expecting a baby or have a young one, here are some sensible next steps. Find your nearest Best Start family hub. Your council's website should list it. Search for 'family hub' plus the name of your council. Ask what is on offer, not just what is on the poster. Hubs run different sessions on different days. Infant feeding support, baby weighing, parent groups and mental health support may each have their own slot. If feeding is not going well, ask for help in days, not weeks. Early help is usually quicker and simpler. If you feel low, flat, anxious or not yourself after birth, tell your midwife, health visitor or GP. This is common and treatable. You do not need to wait for a crisis. Keep your health visitor's number somewhere you can find it quickly. If getting out of the house is the barrier, say so. Services can often offer a phone or video appointment, or a home visit, if they know that travel is the problem. And if you already use a hub, tell other parents what it does. Most people find out about these services from someone they know rather than from an official leaflet.
What to know
The Healthy Babies programme is being expanded to every local authority in England, with the aim of offering it at more than 1,000 Best Start family hubs by 2028. The package covers infant feeding support, parents' mental health and help with bonding, alongside existing health visiting and midwifery care. The government says more than half of local authorities currently have hubs without these services, so the change is about closing a gap rather than inventing something new. The rollout runs to 2028, and the evidence on results will follow. In the meantime, the practical step is simple: find out what your local hub already offers. Sources: GOV.UK (Department of Health and Social Care), 'Support for families and babies rolled out to all family hubs', 30 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/support-for-families-and-babies-rolled-out-to-all-family-hubs; GOV.UK, 'Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies: guidance for local authorities', 18 June 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/best-start-family-hubs-and-healthy-babies-guidance-for-local-authorities; GOV.UK, 'Hundreds of Best Start Family Hubs open nationwide', 30 March 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hundreds-of-best-start-family-hubs-open-nationwide. This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist, health visitor or other qualified healthcare professional.
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