Number of children in receipt of Flying Start services and the percentage of children on a Flying Start health visitor caseload by local authority
Next update expected:October 2026
Updates
- 8th October 2025
- Dataset first published.
Main information
- Designation
- Official statistics
- Data provider
- Welsh Government
- Data source
- Flying Start data monitoring returns
- Time period covered
- April 2013 to March 2025
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
Published by
- Organisation
- Welsh Government
- Contact email
- stats.healthinfo@gov.wales