Council outlines plans to establish 'family centres'

A consultation document on the plans reveals that 16 of the county's 24 Sure Start centres will be closed. The remaining eight will become family centres.

The council said the move will improve outcomes and save money by co-locating services including early help, health visiting and family support. Somerset also plans to provide more support to families in community venues, homes and online.

The 16 centres earmarked for closure will continue to provide some early years services - becoming "linked delivery points", offering nursery and school places.

"Our driving principle is to get support to those who need it most as early as possible so it can have the biggest impact," Frances Nicholson, Somerset's lead member for children and families, said.

"Buildings don't support people, staff and the support they deliver do - the services will remain, it is how and where they are delivered that may change."

The council is consulting on the proposals until 1 December and intends to make a final decision in January.

In a document presented to councillors in July, the Conservative-controlled authority said that the family hubs vision originated with the Centre for Social Justice, the think-tank founded by former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

A Centre for Social Justice report making the case for replacing children's centres with family hubs said they can act as "local nerve centres", enabling parents to access all family-related support including universal services and specialist help.

Somerset County Council set out its intention to move towards a hub model in Somerset's Children & Young People's Plan 2016-2019, which councillors approved in May 2016.

In 2014 the council converted 17 of its 41 Sure Start children's centres into "linked delivery points" that concentrated on delivering early childhood services rather than the wider range of services on offer at children's centres.