Cradle to Career, a major place-based youth support programme, is expanding into Bootle in Sefton following a high-level roundtable at 10 Downing Street on 27 January 2026, according to a background briefing. The programme aims to improve life chances from birth through to first employment by aligning local services, schools and charities around shared goals.
Partners have committed around £12.4m to the programme to date. The model was instigated by the Steve Morgan Foundation and piloted in North Birkenhead in 2021; the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has also provided funding and support for the regional roll-out.
The national delivery partner Right to Succeed manages Cradle to Career, creating community hubs as a single point of entry for families seeking help with literacy, mental health and employability. A discovery phase for Bootle ran through 2024–25 to identify local priorities — for example, creating clearer pathways into maritime and green-energy jobs.
Leaders hope Bootle will repeat the early gains seen in North Birkenhead, where monitoring shows substantial reading improvements and reductions in measures such as social-care referrals. Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has framed Cradle to Career as a way to prevent children being held back by the area in which they are born.
Philanthropic partners including the SHINE Trust and the Steve Morgan Foundation, alongside public funding from the Combined Authority, are supporting the expansion. The move follows publication of the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (October 2025), which highlighted persistent educational and skills challenges in parts of Bootle and the wider city region.
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