Common Outcomes for Children and Young People Collaborative

The movement towards a common approach to outcomes seeks to address the lack of agreement about and understanding of what ‘good’ or ‘improved’ outcomes look like for children, with even less understanding of how babies, children and young people themselves would view and define success, and what is most important for them.  This is perpetuated by a disconnected array of competing outcomes and performance frameworks, separate data systems and fragmented data collection, feeding an ever-growing set of disparate goals and purposes, exacerbated by different language and understanding.   

All this results in wasted efforts, money and opportunities, to maximise the impact of our collective resources, and undermines our efforts to do the very best for children.

The wide and ever-expanding coalition has come together through a shared recognition of the problem, the myriad of consequences but also the potential to address it through collaboration, to move towards a common approach, focusing on what really matters to children, their families and communities.

How we got here

The work evolved within The For Baby’s Sake Trust from its inception until May 2024, and now the Common Outcomes for Children and Young People Collaborative is a distinct unit within the incubation host, Dartington Service Design Lab (DSDL).

The initial impetus for the movement towards a common approach to outcomes came from the Early Years Funders’ Group.  In 2021, Kindred Squared funded Frances Pickworth to assess the extent of the problem and the potential to address it together. Frances reviewed around 20 outcome frameworks from the UK and abroad, identifying key themes like safety, happiness, health, and learning as core areas. This research became a foundational framework, establishing the first version of a model illustrating what a shared approach to outcomes could look like.

The intention is not to create a rigid, top-down requirement but to provide space and scope for exploration and collaboration – identifying where it makes sense to take a consistent approach within and across the system and where additional and more specific elements may be needed for a specific place or cohort of children.

During 2022, the Children’s Commissioner’s Office tested the original version against the feedback received from over half a million children and young people through ‘The Big Ask’.  This led to a further iteration, sharing our vision of better and improved across five high level outcomes for all babies, children and young people – safe, healthy, happy, learning and engaged.

The common outcomes model has continued to expand its reach, with different organisations, partnerships and sectors using it as a reference point and a driving force underpinning their work.  It was included within manifesto influencing activities, such as the Children at the Table: Children's Charities Coalition (Feb 2024). We worked with national charities to bring together third-sector organisations to explore greater consistency and streamlining of their outcomes measurement and their potential to support the embedding of children’s voices in the next phase of common outcomes’ development. Collaboration with the National Youth Agency helped progress towards alignment with the work underway across the young people’s sector, while the Early Education and Childcare Coalition incorporated the common outcomes into core stakeholder communication strategies. Government policy leads have also explored its integration with specific policy areas and, most recently, it has been used to develop and test a consistent approach to outcomes for Family Hubs across London.

Partners worked together during 2023 to agree what success would look like and develop a delivery roadmap which continues to drive our collaborative efforts and planning for the next stage of development as the Common Outcomes for Children and Young People Collaborative.

The latest iteration of the outcomes framework (below) reflects extensive feedback and practical use. The framework has grown into a pragmatic tool with significant traction, informing national approaches and inspiring collaborations across multiple organisations and sectors involved in improving the outcomes for babies, children and families.