Number of children in receipt of Flying Start services and the percentage of children on a Flying Start health visitor caseload by local authority

Standard shorthand is used in this table: [t] = total.

Data values	Data description	Year	Local Authority	Indicator
31,322 [t]	Number	2013-14	Wales	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
27,692 [t]	Number	2013-14	Wales	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
142,282 [t]	Number	2013-14	Wales	Population of children under 4
567	Number	2013-14	Isle of Anglesey	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
483	Number	2013-14	Isle of Anglesey	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
3,223	Number	2013-14	Isle of Anglesey	Population of children under 4
914	Number	2013-14	Gwynedd	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
798	Number	2013-14	Gwynedd	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
5,245	Number	2013-14	Gwynedd	Population of children under 4
908	Number	2013-14	Conwy	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
801	Number	2013-14	Conwy	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
4,646	Number	2013-14	Conwy	Population of children under 4
723	Number	2013-14	Denbighshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
789	Number	2013-14	Denbighshire	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
4,323	Number	2013-14	Denbighshire	Population of children under 4
1,238	Number	2013-14	Flintshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,017	Number	2013-14	Flintshire	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
7,085	Number	2013-14	Flintshire	Population of children under 4
1,121	Number	2013-14	Wrexham	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
931	Number	2013-14	Wrexham	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
7,030	Number	2013-14	Wrexham	Population of children under 4
634	Number	2013-14	Powys	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
642	Number	2013-14	Powys	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
5,040	Number	2013-14	Powys	Population of children under 4
541	Number	2013-14	Ceredigion	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
486	Number	2013-14	Ceredigion	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
2,695	Number	2013-14	Ceredigion	Population of children under 4
1,028	Number	2013-14	Pembrokeshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
800	Number	2013-14	Pembrokeshire	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
5,284	Number	2013-14	Pembrokeshire	Population of children under 4
1,637	Number	2013-14	Carmarthenshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,426	Number	2013-14	Carmarthenshire	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
8,077	Number	2013-14	Carmarthenshire	Population of children under 4
2,149	Number	2013-14	Swansea	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,923	Number	2013-14	Swansea	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
10,675	Number	2013-14	Swansea	Population of children under 4
1,937	Number	2013-14	Neath Port Talbot	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,556	Number	2013-14	Neath Port Talbot	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
6,159	Number	2013-14	Neath Port Talbot	Population of children under 4
1,354	Number	2013-14	Bridgend	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,171	Number	2013-14	Bridgend	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
6,559	Number	2013-14	Bridgend	Population of children under 4
1,182	Number	2013-14	Vale of Glamorgan	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,084	Number	2013-14	Vale of Glamorgan	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
5,748	Number	2013-14	Vale of Glamorgan	Population of children under 4
4,880	Number	2013-14	Cardiff	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
4,167	Number	2013-14	Cardiff	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
18,577	Number	2013-14	Cardiff	Population of children under 4
2,740	Number	2013-14	Rhondda Cynon Taf	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
2,539	Number	2013-14	Rhondda Cynon Taf	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
11,614	Number	2013-14	Rhondda Cynon Taf	Population of children under 4
934	Number	2013-14	Merthyr Tydfil	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
833	Number	2013-14	Merthyr Tydfil	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
2,911	Number	2013-14	Merthyr Tydfil	Population of children under 4
2,121	Number	2013-14	Caerphilly	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,726	Number	2013-14	Caerphilly	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
8,588	Number	2013-14	Caerphilly	Population of children under 4
853	Number	2013-14	Blaenau Gwent	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
760	Number	2013-14	Blaenau Gwent	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
3,183	Number	2013-14	Blaenau Gwent	Population of children under 4
1,268	Number	2013-14	Torfaen	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,201	Number	2013-14	Torfaen	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
4,315	Number	2013-14	Torfaen	Population of children under 4
489	Number	2013-14	Monmouthshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
418	Number	2013-14	Monmouthshire	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
3,525	Number	2013-14	Monmouthshire	Population of children under 4
2,104	Number	2013-14	Newport	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
2,141	Number	2013-14	Newport	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
7,780	Number	2013-14	Newport	Population of children under 4
37,260 [t]	Number	2014-15	Wales	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
32,581 [t]	Number	2014-15	Wales	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
140,358 [t]	Number	2014-15	Wales	Population of children under 4
691	Number	2014-15	Isle of Anglesey	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
604	Number	2014-15	Isle of Anglesey	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
3,211	Number	2014-15	Isle of Anglesey	Population of children under 4
900	Number	2014-15	Gwynedd	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
883	Number	2014-15	Gwynedd	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
5,129	Number	2014-15	Gwynedd	Population of children under 4
957	Number	2014-15	Conwy	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
884	Number	2014-15	Conwy	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
4,605	Number	2014-15	Conwy	Population of children under 4
1,045	Number	2014-15	Denbighshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
821	Number	2014-15	Denbighshire	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
4,303	Number	2014-15	Denbighshire	Population of children under 4
1,515	Number	2014-15	Flintshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,244	Number	2014-15	Flintshire	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
6,865	Number	2014-15	Flintshire	Population of children under 4
1,468	Number	2014-15	Wrexham	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,286	Number	2014-15	Wrexham	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
6,839	Number	2014-15	Wrexham	Population of children under 4
817	Number	2014-15	Powys	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
785	Number	2014-15	Powys	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
4,999	Number	2014-15	Powys	Population of children under 4
502	Number	2014-15	Ceredigion	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
488	Number	2014-15	Ceredigion	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
2,623	Number	2014-15	Ceredigion	Population of children under 4
1,120	Number	2014-15	Pembrokeshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)
1,083	Number	2014-15	Pembrokeshire	Children under 4 allocated to Flying Start health visitors
5,160	Number	2014-15	Pembrokeshire	Population of children under 4
1,858	Number	2014-15	Carmarthenshire	Children benefiting (in receipt of services)

Showing 1 to 100 of 1,104 rows

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Main information

• Most recent update: 8 October 2025
• Next update expected: October 2026
• Designation: Official statistics
• Data provider: Welsh Government
• Data source: Flying Start data monitoring returns
• Time period covered: April 2013 to March 2025

Data notes

Overview

• Summary of dataset and variables:

  Flying Start is the Welsh Government early years programme delivered by local authorities in Wales. It is aimed at improving outcomes for families with children under 4 years of age in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Wales.

  Expansion of all four elements of Flying Start began in September 2022, it included: funded part-time, high-quality childcare for 2 year olds; parenting support; enhanced health visitor support; and support for speech, language and communication.

• Data collection or calculation:

  The main source of data used in this statistical release is management information collected via the Welsh Government Flying Start Data Monitoring Return directly from local authorities. This data collection started in April 2012 to March 2013.

  Further information on data sources and changes to Flying Start service provision because of the pandemic are detailed in the quality report.

  The definition of children in receipt of Flying Start services changed in 2023-24. Previously, the number of children who had a contact with a Flying Start health visitor were counted. From April 2023 all individual children receiving a Flying Start health programme contact are counted as being in receipt of Flying Start services. This means that all unique contacts that relate directly to the core Flying Start health programme are counted whether they are made by a Flying Start health visitor or by a member of the wider Flying Start health or local authority team.

  ‘Transfer in’ contacts are also counted. These do not feature as part of the standard Flying Start health programme but are standard across a number of local authorities. There may be a small number of children who receive Flying Start services but do not have any Flying Start programme contacts in the reporting year; these children would not be counted in the data.

  As the eligibility for Flying Start services is area-based, the total number of children in receipt of Flying Start services is affected by the number of children aged under 4 years living in Flying Start areas in each year. This is in turn affected by changes to population demographics.

  The number of children on the caseload is generally lower than the number of children who have received Flying Start services in the year because families move in and out of Flying Start areas throughout the course of the year, and as children grow older they may become ineligible for services at a faster rate than new arrivals become eligible.

• Statistical quality:

  Data from 2020-21 and 2021-22 was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In years prior to the pandemic, in general only face-to-face contacts were recorded as Flying Start contacts. Welsh Government guidance issued in June 2021 stated that, as a general rule any targeted activity conducted via different means during the pandemic (i.e. virtual contacts through Skype or Whatsapp) should be recorded in the same way as face-to-face contacts were recorded previously. The guidance also stated that local authorities should exercise their professional judgement when determining if a virtual contact was meaningful enough to be recorded.

  Local authorities have provided additional feedback on how services were affected in 2021-22, and these included:

  • some parenting and speech, language and communication (SLC) programmes were either not run or not able to be completed
  • some childcare sessions had low attendance due to continued parental concern over COVID-19
  • some parents chose not to take-up childcare which they may have accepted prior to the pandemic
  • some Flying Start staff would have been self-isolating, shielding or unwell which affected the service offered
  • some contacts recorded as face-to-face contacts may have taken place over the phone or virtually.

  These factors need to be considered when using data for 2021-22. Services in 2022-23 were also affected by the pandemic. Whilst the enforced restrictions and adaptions to service delivery seen in 2021-22 were not seen in 2022-23, there may still have been some disruption caused by localised outbreaks of the virus. Furthermore, some of the virtual delivery of Parenting courses, SLC and health visitor services was retained as part of programme delivery for 2022-23 either due to personal choice or because it was deemed to be an effective means of reaching some families depending on individual circumstances. Caution is therefore advised when comparing data from 2022-23 with pre-pandemic figures.

  Health Visiting in Rhondda Cynon Taf: Rhondda Cynon Taf are piloting a new health visiting model which means that data between 2020-21 and 2023-24 are collected on a different basis to previous years. This may mean that any differences between previous years and any differences with other local authority areas may be due to the different service provision model. Therefore, caution is advised when comparing Rhondda Cynon Taf data with previous years and when comparing with other local authorities in 2022-23.

  Industrial action in Merthyr Tydfil, between February and October 2024, affected the reporting of caseload data, resulting in a 40% reduction in the average caseload for that local authority for 2024-25 when comparing it to 2023-24.

• Related reports:
  • Flying Start statistical bulletin
  • Flying Start quality report

Published by

• Organisation: Welsh Government
• Contact email: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Metadata

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