Child development and family welfare

Our work explores the factors that affect children’s welfare and development, in both a cognitive and social context.

For example we fund projects that link education and child development, but we are also interested in wider family policy issues, such as childcare and divorce and separation.

Recent work in this area includes an examination of the relationship between marriage and children's outcomes. We funded research undertaken by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that investigated whether the marital status of parents accounted for the developmental differences between children.  A follow up study examined whether getting married makes a relationship between parents more stable. 

We have also funded research on the role of informal childcare. Researchers examined different configurations of childcare and the extent to which these have been influenced by government policy. 

If you are interested in applying for funding in this area, please read our application guidelines.