Children's centres must innovate or face 'marginalisation', charity warns

An Action for Children report says local authorities need to better integrate health and early years services with existing children's centre provision or face them becoming "marginalised".

Pooling resources used for health visiting and free childcare in particular are areas that should be considered, the Beyond the Building report adds.   

The report also warns of the dangers of turning children's centres into just a targeted service in the face of government funding cuts – many councils are reconfiguring provision so that it focuses on the needs of the most disadvantaged children instead of being available to all local families.

It says the shift from a universal to targeted service reduces children’s centres’ impact, risks making them stigmatising and effects their ability to identify problems early.

The charity says that better integration of health visitors and free childcare services will help ensure children’s centres retain a universal offering.

“One of the strengths of centres has been to bring services and programmes together for families and young children to have access to integrated, easily accessible health, early years and family support,” the charity’s Beyond the Building report states.

“There is a lack of alternative provision that offers this range and combination of support to families on a daily basis.

“Targeted services can only be delivered once a particular need has been identified. This is practically impossible without some form of service that brings families from across the community into contact with professionals.”

The report also calls for local authorities and the government to commit to delivering children’s centre services across the community, rather than from a single building. It says the government – which is undertaking a review of children's centres – should introduce a framework to measure their outcomes to improve accountability.

Kate Mulley, director of policy and campaigns at Action for Children, said: “The right support for children in the early years can make a huge, positive difference to their life chances.

“We can’t lose sight of that even when there are such difficult decisions to be made around the funding and structure of public services.

“To reinvigorate children’s centres, the government should develop a framework that ensures children reach important milestones by age five, while leaving flexibility for local authorities to do this in the way that best suits parents in their area and makes the best use of resources. Otherwise, the good work that centres do is at risk of falling by the wayside.”