New data release: Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study, Age 9-10 Months Sweep

News, Data release

6 October 2025

Researchers interested in the study of early years development and family life can now download data from the Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study from the UK Data Service.

The feasibility study was set up to test out approaches to sampling and data collection on a smaller scale, to inform the design of a larger study – Generation New Era – announced last month. Generation New Era will follow the lives of around 30,000 babies born in 2026.

This new data release from the feasibility study includes information collected from more than 3,000 parents who took part across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland during 2023-24, when their babies were 9-13 months old.

Researchers will be able to use the new data to examine the factors that shape early child development today and how inequalities emerge. Findings based on the new data will be of use across early years, education and health policy and practice.

“We are incredibly grateful to every one of the parents who gave their time to the feasibility study and shared information about their babies and their lives together.”

Professor Alissa Goodman, study co-director

Professor Alissa Goodman, study co-director, said: “We are incredibly grateful to every one of the parents who gave their time to the feasibility study and shared information about their babies and their lives together. Their contributions will be incredibly valuable to the research community and policymakers and, importantly, they have paved the way for a new, full size birth cohort study for the UK – the first of its kind in 25 years.”

About the Age 9-10 Months Sweep

The main survey fieldwork for the Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study Age 9-10 Months Sweep ran from September 2023 to February 2024 in England and Wales, between September 2023 to April 2024 in Scotland, and from April to July 2024 in Northern Ireland. The majority of babies were aged between 9-13 months.

The study design focused on maximising participation of traditionally ‘less often heard’ populations. In England, there were sample boosts for babies born into disadvantaged and ethnic minority families (Black Caribbean, Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi). There were further boosts of births in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A major innovation of the study design was to gather information from dads as well as mums, including those who live separately to their child. Interviews were completed with 1,853 mums and 1,272 dads. Most interviews took place in-person, and an online follow-up survey was offered to households where no interview had been achieved.

In total, data are available on 1,933 families and 1,976 babies, including 1,015 families in England, 320 in Northern Ireland, 319 in Scotland and 279 in Wales.

Survey fieldwork was conducted by Ipsos.

What information was collected?

Parents were asked a series of questions related to their child, including (in alphabetical order):

birth and delivery
childcare and service use
child’s health and development
child’s play, activities and temperament
child’s screen use
grandparent financial support
parenting engagement and bonding
pregnancy history.

Parents were also asked to answer questions about their own lives, including their background circumstances, relationships, and mental health and wellbeing. These included (in alphabetical order):

couple’s relationship satisfaction
education and employment
ethnicity
family income
household relationships
housing
mental health, life satisfaction and loneliness
physical health
smoking, vaping and alcohol.

Parents were asked to give consent for their survey data to be linked to their health records, as well as education and social care records. A subgroup of parents were asked to provide their own and their baby’s saliva sample for DNA extraction. These linked administrative data and biomedical information are not available in this data deposit.

Professor Alissa Goodman said: “I am excited to announce the release of this new data from the Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study. This information comes at a critical time in the UK’s history, with social, technological, political and economic changes occurring at an unprecedented pace.

“These new data on 1,976 babies and their families can help us begin to better understand the challenges of parenting today, including the economic pressures faced by many families and the impact of new technologies. Equally, the study will help illuminate the roles of mothers and fathers in caregiving, with dads in recent generations spending more time with their babies.”

How to access the data

Most of the Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study Age 9-10 Months Sweep data are available for free from the UK Data Service under an end user licence agreement, with selected sensitive data available under secure access arrangements:

Data available under end user licence.

Data available under secure access.