MAYOR’S BEDS FOR BABIES SCHEME LAUNCHES ‘TEST AND LEARN’ PILOTS

Published 7 March 2025 at 8:30pm

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard has launched the next phase of his Beds for Babies scheme that guarantees all children aged 5 and under a safe place to sleep.

The Mayor visited Mexborough Family Hub in Doncaster today (Friday 7 March) to open the first of four ‘test and learn’ pilots that will trial different ways of working with disadvantaged families to build trust with parents, and provide additional support that could lead to better health outcomes for children. 

The new pilots are part of the Beds for Babies: Safe Space to Sleep programme, that started in June last year with a £2.2 million investment over four years from the Mayor. Since then, nearly 2300 free beds and bedding items, such as mattresses, have been given to more than 1500 children, so far.    

The programme was set up by the Mayor to tackle health inequalities in South Yorkshire which are amongst the worst in the country. The average life expectancy of a child born in Doncaster is five years shorter than one born in areas such as Bromley in the South East of England.  

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority will fund pilot initiatives across South Yorkshire to enable the testing of new approaches.  The four local authorities in the region will receive £150,000 each for pilots in areas with high levels of deprivation that are designed at a local level.

The first pilot at Mexborough Family Hub will not only provide beds for families who need them but will also look at supporting the family more widely. This will include providing free bedtime bags, containing toothbrushes and books to establish good sleep hygiene and wellbeing among young children. 

As part of the pilot the offer of free beds will be extended to parents and older siblings of children aged 5 and under who qualify for the current Beds for Babies scheme.

Families will be invited to have a conversation with staff at the Hub to discuss if additional support is required. Where there is a need, parents will be referred to the appropriate voluntary or statutory organisations for help on a range of other services, from housing to childcare and benefits available to parents in Mexborough.   

The ‘test and learn’ pilots will build an evidence base of what works and inform best practice in areas such as better provision of beds, cots and bedding, liaising with housing services and connecting families to access other services. It will also help shape new approaches on building trust and stronger working relationships between statutory and non-statutory organisations. 

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard, said:

“Having a safe space to sleep for children aged 5 and under is often just one of the problems families face. Poor housing, poverty, a lack of support, and access to healthcare for whatever reason all affect a child’s start in life. 

“Often families, especially those who are working at the same time as experiencing poverty, are reluctant to ask for help. 

“My Beds for Babies programme has already started tackling bed poverty in South Yorkshire with over 2300 beds and bedding given out to those who need it.

“Pilots such as the one we’re launching today in Mexborough goes one step further with more wraparound advice and support and they will help us understand what more we need to do if we are going to truly tackle child poverty in South Yorkshire.”

Cllr Lani-Mae Ball, Cabinet Member for Early Help, Young People and Children's Social Care at Doncaster Council, said:

“Mexborough Family Hub is the ideal place to launch the first ‘test and learn’ pilot as it already has an established partnership supporting families around lots of issues, including sleep related ones. 

“We have worked really hard with partners across Doncaster including Baby Basics, The Sleep Charity, Family Lives, RDaSH and Barnardo's to set up and deliver this new offer in Mexborough and we are very proud of the support we can jointly provide to local families. 

“We have already supported 20 families to access cots, beds and bedding bundles across the City since we introduced the beds for babies scheme in December 2024.” 

Click here for more information on the Beds for Babies scheme.