Friday, 7 January 2022

Children’s Centre Closures Represent an Ongoing Salami Slicing of Services.

 

Green Party activists in Stoke-on-Trent have expressed their concern about plans put froward by the council to close three children’s centres as part of a proposed £7.1million in budget cuts.

 

The cuts are part of a package of savings that will see the three children’s centres closed, along with the loss of twenty-two jobs and cuts to non-statutory social care services including closing the city’s Meals on Wheels service [1].

 

A spokesperson for North Staffs Green Party said “the proposed closure of three children’s centres is deeply concerning. It will have serious consequences for families that are struggling and, together with the other cuts represents the ongoing salami slicing of services used by the most vulnerable people in our city.”

 

The three children’s centres under threat of closure are in Blurton, The Crescent Meir, and Norton. Two other centres, Burslem and The Treetops would be transferred to be run by third party organizations by April of next year, it is not clear whether they would retain their legal designation as children’s centres.

 

The city’s five other current centres would be retained and developed as ‘family hubs,’ at which support, and outreach services would be delivered in a way the council claim will ‘allow us to focus our resources on those services that make the most difference to families by reducing spend on the administration, maintenance and management of our buildings. The proposal also aims to build on the changing ways that people use our services’ [2].

 

Family hubs are part of a £500million government initiative to offer ‘one stop’ advice and support to families. As part of the plan £82milliion will be shared by 75 local authorities to fund the new ‘family hubs’.

 

Although welcoming the additional funding being made available leading children’s charities have criticised the government for not going far enough. Neil Leitch of the Early Year Alliance told the BBC in October that not enough was being done to address problems in the early years sector, particularly the challenges faced by nurseries.

 

Also speaking to the BBC Alison Morton of the Institute of Health Visiting said children’s services had had a ‘really challenging time’ during the pandemic and that the government needed ‘to go an awful lot further’ if it was serious about building back better for children and families [3].

 

The council say services will not be reduced and will be delivered using alternative venues including schools and community centres and that the changes will allow it to ‘spend the limited money that is available to us on delivering better services and less money on maintaining buildings’.

 

Referring to claims services will be unaffected by the changes the North Staffs Green Party spokesperson said, “any change to how and where services are delivered can be problematic for families, particularly in a city with a public transport system that often falls far below an acceptable standard of service, the council do not appear to have fully recognised this awkward fact of many people’s daily lives”.

 

Conservative council leader Abi Brown said the council had to reduce spending on non-statutory services to ‘focus’ funding on the areas where it was needed most and drew attention to the £154.4 million set to be spent on adults and children’s social services next year.

 

This will be partially achieved through extra funding from central government, there will also, if the proposals go through, be a 2.99% rise in Council Tax bills for residents.

 

Speaking to The Sentinel this week Councillor Brown said the council had ‘worked really hard’ to retain children’s centres and recognised that the centres proposed for closure were valued by the communities they serve, saying "I know this will be a disappointment to some people out there. We've worked really hard to make sure the reduction is kept to a minimum. The government has been clear that family hubs are the way forward, and we are keen to capitalise on that."

 

The North Staffs Green Party spokesperson said “disappointment at seeing their children’s centre closed is putting it mildly, too mildly. Many families will despair at seeing yet more cuts to services”, adding “we are committed to being by their side in campaigning to protect these and other vital services from being axed”.

 

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is holding a public consultation on the proposed changes to Children’s Centres, details about the proposals and how to respond can be accessed at: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/childrencentresconsultation

 

[1]https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/childrens-centres-close-tax-go-6439025

[2] Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Summary of Proposed Changes to Children’s Centres in Stoke-on-Trent, accessed 7/1/2022

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59018031

 

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