Working towards being there for every parent
Our five-year plan, For Every Parent, set out how we’re working towards supporting every parent through pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood. In the past year, we’ve been focused on delivering this vision and helping even more new and expectant parents during a critical, life-changing stage of their lives.
Connecting parents in local communities
Nearly one in three new parents experience loneliness. In response to this growing need for connection, last year 3,000 incredible NCT volunteers organised nearly 7,000 community events, reaching 95,000 parents. Through these events, we created opportunities for parents to build their own supportive communities—helping to combat isolation and foster a sense of belonging.
Mental health support
Many parents face mental health challenges during pregnancy or the first year after birth. Through NCT Parents in Mind, we’re breaking the stigma by offering safe spaces for sharing and support. After receiving peer support from local parent volunteers, 94% of parents felt understood, and 88% felt better informed about where to get help.
Responding to the rising cost of living
Families are struggling with the cost of living. We’re helping to tackle this by providing practical and emotional support by delivering 3,000 Baby Bundle items to those in need, selling 200,000 affordable baby items at 99 NCT Nearly New Sales. We also expanded our free services with trusted partners, and worked with local food banks, baby banks including through the Baby Bank Alliance, and other services to offer further help. And millions of people accessed our free online content hub for evidence-based information about pregnancy, birth and life as a parent.
Trusted antenatal and postnatal education
NHS maternity services are under significant pressure, impacting the quality and accessibility of care for new and expectant mothers. We’re working to equip parents with comprehensive, accurate, and impartial education. Last year nearly 66,500 parents were supported through NCT courses, run by over 530 practitioners. We’re proud that 95% of parents rated their NCT Antenatal course as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ and 89% of parents reported that they felt less isolated after birth as a result of taking part in an NCT Antenatal course.
Personalised infant feeding support
Parents need unbiased, evidence-based information and support to enable them to feed their babies in the way they decide. Last year, we supported over 85,000 new parents to make decisions that were right for them, and their baby. We were there when people needed us – in a neonatal unit, at one of our 60 Baby Cafes in the community, or through late-night calls to our free Infant Feeding Line.
Campaigning for change
With a new Government in place, we are relentlessly campaigning and collaborating with others to improve services and ensure that every parent has access to safe, equitable care. Our work aims to ensure that policy decisions are informed by real-world experiences and evidence and respond to the needs of parents today.
Annual reports
Our Annual Reports provide an overview of our charity’s impact each year and the work and collaborations we build to deliver this impact.
It includes a report from the Trustees and a record of our financial performance. The most recent ones are available to download.