Briefings and impact

Impact case studies

Impact case study: Child Trust Fund scheme

This case study focuses on research (using data from the 1958 National Child Development Study) that played a pivotal role in the establishment of the last Labour government’s Child Trust Fund, the world’s first universal children’s savings scheme. The fund is a long-term tax-free savings initiative for UK children born between September 1, 2002 and January 2, 2011. Its designers aimed to ensure that every young person had some savings at the age of 18. They also hoped to encourage children to become savers and gain an understanding of personal finance.

Impact case studies

Impact case study: Millennium Cohort Study

This case study looks at the impact of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) on policy and practice. The MCS is the first birth cohort study to include all four UK countries. Its field of enquiry covers such diverse topics as parenting; childcare; school choice; child behaviour and cognitive development; child and parental health; parents’ employment and education; income and poverty; housing, neighbourhood and residential mobility; social capital and ethnicity, and the growing fluidity of family structures. The study is providing an invaluable service to the research community in the UK and internationally, and has helped to influence social, education and health policy at local and national levels.

Impact case studies

Impact case study: British birth cohort studies

This case study looks at the impact that the 1958, 1970 and Millennium cohort studies have had on different areas of policy. Britain’s internationally-renowned birth cohort studies have been described as the “crown jewels of social research”. As they track the same groups of people from birth, these studies show how histories of health, wealth, education, family and employment are interwoven for individuals and affect outcomes and achievements in later life. By comparing different generations in three cohorts, it is possible to chart social change and start to untangle the reasons behind it.

Briefing papers

Millennium Cohort Study 2010 briefing 14: Childhood overweight and obesity

This briefing is one of 14 that distil the key findings of the first three surveys of the Millennium Cohort Study, as collected in Children of the 21st century (Volume 2): The first five years.

This paper provides an analysis of the weight and height data obtained when cohort members were aged 3 and 5. It also reports on the prevalence of obesity and overweight at these ages, examines stability and change between these ages, and identifies risk factors.

Briefing papers

Millennium Cohort Study 2010 briefing 13: Intergenerational inequality in early years assessments

This briefing is one of 14 that distil the key findings of the first three surveys of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), as collected in Children of the 21st century (Volume 2): The first five years.

This paper uses MCS data to provide new evidence on the extent to which one measure of parental background, family income, is correlated with children’s behaviour and cognitive ability (assessed here by vocabulary).

Briefing papers

Millennium Cohort Study 2010 briefing 12: Ethnic inequalities in child outcomes

This briefing is one of 14 that distil the key findings of the first three surveys of the Millennium Cohort Study, as collected in Children of the 21st century (Volume 2): The first five years.

This paper reports findings from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) on the nature and extent of ethnic differences in early childhood outcomes up to age 5. The analysis of MCS data summarised here also considers background factors that are likely to have affected child outcomes. It looks at differences in socio-economic status (SES) and family characteristics, such as parental education and health, and also the home learning environment and parenting styles and rules.

Briefing papers

Millennium Cohort Study 2010 briefing 11: Quality of parental relationship and parenting behaviour

This briefing is one of 14 that distil the key findings of the first three surveys of the Millennium Cohort Study, as collected in Children of the 21st century (Volume 2): The first five years.

This paper uses data from couples in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to examine the self-reported perceptions of relationships between partners: how well they predict later breakup, and whether they are indeed related to parenting behaviours and child outcomes at age 5.

Briefing papers

Millennium Cohort Study 2010 briefing 10: Parental employment

This briefing is one of 14 that distil the key findings of the first three surveys of the Millennium Cohort Study, as collected in Children of the 21st century (Volume 2): The first five years.

This Briefing examines Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) parents’ varied employment hours and childcare combinations during the cohort children’s first five years. It focuses on diversity linked to ethnicity and to partnership status. The use of flexible working arrangements and their relationship to work–life balance are also considered.

Briefing papers

Millennium Cohort Study 2010 briefing 9: Parental and child health

This briefing is one of 14 that distil the key findings of the first three surveys of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), as collected in Children of the 21st century (Volume 2): The first five years.

This paper examines new evidence from MCS on environmental factors on early childhood health and development, including the health of parents.

Briefing papers

Millennium Cohort Study 2010 briefing 8: Childcare in the pre-school years

This briefing is one of 14 that distil the key findings of the first three surveys of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), as collected in Children of the 21st century (Volume 2): The first five years.

It looks at the Millennium cohort’s experience of care from people other than the mother, particularly in group childcare settings. It includes sections on the recent history of childcare in the UK, the use of centre-based care and findings on the quality of group care.