4Children condemns call for Sure Start funding to be devolved

The report by the Centre for Policy Studies, called Cutting the Children's Plan: a £5 billion experiment gone astray, calls for a far-reaching review of Sure Start, including handing control of funding to councils.
 
It also calls for a cut of £1.9bn a year from the Children's Plan budget, which includes Sure Start. Instead, councils should be handed an extra £2.3bn and the "discretion to implement and fund" children's centres.

But the plans have been condemned by the charity 4Children. A spokeswoman said: "By devolving funding to councils it is giving them the freedom to say that they don't need them. We think that is unacceptable as it will deny some of the most vulnerable people access to these services. They are a vital service that must be provided, just as schools are."

Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, added: "The support they provide is simply too important for any community to go without."

The report's conclusions have been defended by Centre for Policy Studies director Jill Kirby. She said: "The Children's Plan is a classic example of the failings of big government: billions of pounds wasted in pursuit of central targets, based on untested ideas and packaged in jargon and bureaucracy.

"The sooner these grandiose plans are abandoned in favour of practical, localised support to the most needy families, the better."