Bookstart Impact Report

Shared reading supports children’s development. It creates opportunities for connection and communication, helping to build responsive caregiving. It helps to create a positive home learning environment, supporting language development, early literacy skills and wellbeing. 

Bookstart supports children and families at key stages of early childhood through a series of evidence-informed programmes, all designed to make reading and sharing stories easy, accessible and enjoyable. Bookstart programmes give access to free books and resources, evidence-informed guidance and strengths-based messaging for families, plus support for and from trusted local early years partners. Bookstart combines national reach with flexible local delivery to respond to local needs and priorities with an established network of almost 30,000 early years partners in family hubs and other multi agency settings, health services, libraries and community organisations. 

BookTrust works with partners to identify the most effective routes to reach families, delivering support through universal services as well as pathways focused on reaching families on low incomes, children with additional needs or children from vulnerable family backgrounds.

By encouraging enjoyment and connection through shared reading, Bookstart Baby, Toddler, Pre-Schooler and Storytime help families make reading a regular part of everyday family life: 

• 83% of parents and carers say Bookstart creates more opportunities to spend quality time with their child. 
• 85% of parents and carers say that reading and sharing books in Bookstart packs has helped them to feel closer to their child. 
• 97% of parents and carers enjoyed using Bookstart books and activities. 

Bookstart supports families to establish reading routines through building confidence, knowledge and making reading feel easier and more achievable: 

• 76% of parents and carers learned something new about ways to read or share books and stories with their child. 
• 51% of parents and carers say the books were some of the first books they owned for their child. 
• 80% of parents and carers receiving Bookstart Baby and 77% of parents and carers receiving Toddler/Pre-schooler say they now read or share books and stories more with their child. 

By embedding reading support in existing services and community settings Bookstart creates connected opportunities for families to experience reading support. Bookstart builds on the expertise and practice of those already working with families through evidence-informed guidance, tools and, support for partners: 

• 81% of partners believe Bookstart helps support their organisation’s overall objectives. 
• Over 90% of partners say Bookstart programmes are important to their organisation – in Wales, 100% of partners say this.

Through Bookstart, BookTrust provides a national infrastructure for shared reading in the early years, supporting Government policy ambitions across England, Wales and Northern Ireland including those set out for England in the Best Start in Life. 

• Bookstart Baby is established within health visiting pathways, enabling reading support to be integrated into routine contact with all families with new babies. 
• Bookstart Toddler/Pre-schooler is embedded within local early years systems, with over 7,400 pathways to reach families on low incomes. In 2025/26 these routes involved 5,950 early education settings, 620 multi-agency settings, 280 health services and 190 charities and community organisations.
• Bookstart Storytime is used in over 90% of public libraries – 2,400 libraries in total in 2025/26. Partners in libraries work with local organisations including early education settings, family hubs, children’s centres, early help services and housing associations to connect families with young children to library services 

In the report you will find: 

• Our impact model explaining our whole-system approach to change. 
• Research behind our evidence-informed programmes. 
• Key findings on the impact of Bookstart in 2025/26. 
• Experiences of partners and families we work with. 

The Welsh language version of these reports will be available soon.