Invitation to Market Engagement Event: Best Start in Life

Bradford Children and Families Trust has been established as a community interest company limited by guarantee, wholly owned by Bradford Council, to provide a long-term and sustainable platform to realise improved performance and deliver high-quality and innovative social care services to children, young people and their families within the Bradford Metropolitan District. In 2025, the Government announced a new programme, Giving every child the best start in life - GOV.UK, building on the previous Family Hubs Start for Life programme.

The strategy sets out the importance of supporting every child and family through their early years, laying the foundations for future success. Including the commitment to ensure 75% of children reach a Good Level of Development (GLD) in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment by 2028 and are starting school ready to learn.

The Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies: guidance for local authorities - GOV.UK informs the strands of the core funded services that are in scope for this commissioning activity. They will be divided into the following two Lots: 1) Parenting Support 2) Parent-Infant Relationships and Perinatal (Parent Infant) Mental Health BCFT wishes to invite potential providers to attend a market engagement event for an update on the delivery of this programme of commissioning between 1st April 2027- 31st March 2029, with two options to extend of up to 24 months.

Feedback from the market engagement event may be incorporated into service specifications. Date: Monday 27th July 2026 Time: 10am – 12 noon Location: New View Room, Britannia House, Hall Ings, Bradford, BD1 1HX . Bidders are encouraged to register their interest by 20 July 2026 to help ensure sufficient capacity for the event.