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Background information

Information about the NCT

The NCT is the UK's leading charity on pregnancy, birth and early parenthood - we're with parents all the way from bump to baby. Each year we support over 100,000 parents through an incredible life changing experience, offering information and practical and emotional support through 300 UK-wide branch networks and we campaign for better maternity care.

Operating for over 50 years, the NCT is recognised as the voice of pregnant women and new parents throughout the UK with over 77,000 members. The charity works continuously for improvements to maternity care and better services and facilities for new parents. We are viewed by many as independent experts in matters relating to pregnancy, birth and early parenthood and are an influential and trusted advisor to UK governments, royal colleges, private sector bodies and other charities.

NCT Vision

The NCT wants all parents to have an experience of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood that enriches their lives and gives them confidence in being a parent. The charity supports all parents to be the parent they want to be.

Facts and Figures

The NCT was formerly known as the National Childbirth Trust until it changed its name in January 2008. The charity has over 77,000 members, organised into over 300 branches. Ever year the NCT:-

Provides antenatal classes for 65,000 expectant parents
Provides early days courses (postnatal) and drop-ins to 3,500 parents
Answers 80,000 telephone enquiries including 54,000 to the breastfeeding line
Reaches up to 1.5 million pregnant women with bumps & babies magazine
Provides breastfeeding counselling to over 64,000 parents in their local area
Links up more than 1,000 parents with special experiences
Relies on the help of over 4,600 volunteers
Supports 4,000 health professionals
Reaches over 72,000 people through our website each month

Network and Support Services

Our members are organised into over 300 branches across the UK. Each branch is run by volunteers and offers services, activities and opportunities for new parents to meet other parents. Information, counselling and telephone support is also provided through our enquiry line, breastfeeding line, and pregnancy & birth line.

Antenatal support - our friendly, practical antenatal classes aim to provide parents with the confidence and information they need in preparing for the transition to parenthood.

Postnatal support - we provide a wide range of groups to support parents with young babies, including early days courses or drop-ins run by postnatal leaders, coffee mornings and bumps and babies get-togethers.

Breastfeeding support - we support all parents in their feeding decisions and provide specialist help with breastfeeding from trained breastfeeding counsellors.

Peer support schemes - we train peer support workers to run groups on specialist topics

The NCT has over 900 specialist workers including over 500 antenatal teachers, over 300 breastfeeding counsellors and 60 postnatal leaders. We also provide training and support to healthcare professionals delivering services to support those becoming parents. As a registered UK charity, we charge for our courses to cover the running expenses, including training for our specialist workers to support the wider work of the NCT. We offer discounted prices to parents on low income, benefit or who would find it difficult to pay the full amount.

Training

NCT trains thousands of specialist workers, many of who go on to work in the health service and formal education. Training as a specialist worker normally takes up to two and a half years on diploma programmes that are validated by the University of Bedfordshire. We currently have over 450 students training to be antenatal teachers and over 300 students training to be breastfeeding counsellors. We also offer training to healthcare professionals via NHS Connect and host several conferences every year for healthcare professionals.

NCT and Health Professionals

The NCT has developed strong working links with midwives, health visitors, GPs, paediatricians and obstetricians who use NCT information and recommend us to new parents. We also work together on multi-disciplinary groups such as the Maternity Care Working Party.

Policy and Campaigns

The NCT is a campaigning organisation that works to give parents access to the choices and rights that make parenthood an even more enjoyable experience. We campaign with and on behalf of our membership cross the four countries of the UK on issues relating to, and in line with our policies, on pregnancy and birth, baby feeding and early parenthood. We support our local network of branches and members to lobby and campaign for positive changes in services available to parents in their local areas.

We lobby and advise governments and policy makers to ensure that parents' needs are represented and included in policies and guidelines at both national and local levels. We also campaign to protect the rights and choices of all parents in the UK and influence the attitudes of society.

Fundraising Support

All fundraising income goes towards the NCT's work in supporting parents. The NCT Cheeky Monkeys Tea Party is the charity's flagship fundraising event - over 15,000 families participate. NCT Nearly New Sales also contribute significantly along with other branch fundraising activities. The NCT raises funds commercially in many ways including sponsorship for NCT products and events, company adoption and product placement. The NCT also works to obtain grant funding for outreach work with projects involving minority groups, women in prisons and teenage mums.

Community Projects

The NCT has experience of working with the NHS, Sure Start and community groups to deliver projects under contract and to provide consultation and practical training. Our parent-centred approach is particularly helpful in engaging hard-to-reach groups and we have developed a wide range of skills through our partnerships with local organisations and courses tailored to parents' needs, including black and minority ethnic families and young parents.

Research

The NCT has a long tradition of carrying out research on women's and men's experiences of birth, baby feeding and the transition to parenthood. We contribute to primary research projects, meta-analysis and evidence-based guidelines for health service. We also influence research and audit agendas so that relevant evidence is available to answer questions of importance to parents. All this activity informs our service and information provision, and is used for lobbying and campaigning.

NCT Sales

NCT Sales offers parents a broad range of tried and tested products to use through pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. The selection includes nappies, breastfeeding and maternity bras, educational toys, books, information leaflets and breast pump and valley cushion hire. We also offer products and information and training opportunities for professionals working with new and expectant parents. The range includes publications for professional development, information to give to parents and practical resources for maternity units.

Information

The NCT offers accessible information and friendly support in pregnancy, childbirth and throughout early parenthood. We also produce evidence based information to enable parents to make informed decisions. We publish information in a variety of formats including leaflets, information

Journalist briefings

Please see below for some of our briefings for journalist.