Early Childhood Interventions (ECI) offering disadvantaged children preschool and family support services in the US show long-lasting health impacts. Can these benefits hold when these programs are offered to all children in contexts with universal healthcare? We evaluate the short- and medium-term health impacts of Sure Start, a universal integrated ECI in England, exploiting its 11-year rollout and administrative hospitalizations data. One additional Sure Start centre per thousand age-eligible children increases hospitalizations by 10% at age 1, but reduces them by 8-9% across ages 11-15. Impacts are concentrated in disadvantaged areas and likely driven by both health and non-health services.
Authors
Associate Director
Sarah is an Associate Director in the Education and Skills sector at the IFS, holding a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Research Fellow University College London
Gabriella is a Research Fellow of the IFS and a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and in the Department of Social Science at UCL.
Associate Director
Christine's research examines inequalities in children's education and health, especially in the early education and childcare sector.
Research Associate University of Bergen
Rita is an IFS Research Associate, an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen and a Research Associate at the Uppsala University.
Maud Pecher
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2022.4322
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
Cattan, S et al. (2022). The health effects of universal early childhood interventions: evidence from Sure Start. 22/43. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/health-effects-universal-early-childhood-interventions-evidence-sure-start (accessed: 2 May 2024).
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