Council proposes £3m cuts to children's centres

Norfolk County Council plans to reduce its spending on children's centres in 2016/17 by £1.83m, from £12.5m to £10.7m, which represents a 15 per cent cut.

Spending in 2017/18 and 2018/19 will then be cut by a further £609,000 each year, amounting to an overall reduction of nearly 25 per cent for the three-year period.

Although all of the county’s 53 children’s centres will remain open, services will no longer be universal, instead being targeted to children and families deemed most in need.

This will include families struggling with issues such as unemployment, substance misuse, domestic abuse, and mental or physical health problems. Meanwhile children’s centres will be asked to make their services more efficient.

The cuts are part of an estimated £111m the council has said it will have to find in order to balance its budget over the next three years.

The council said it has already been forced to make savings of £245m since 2011 as a result of reductions in funding from central government.

A consultation report published by the council states that that the cuts to children's centre spending may mean families will have to pay for certain services run by the centres. It may also mean some services will stop altogether.

“We will discuss with the organisations that run the children’s centres what changes they would need to make if this proposal goes ahead,” the report states.

“It would be up to each children’s centre to work with families and their local community to decide which services and activities to run.”

A spokesman for Norfolk County Council said: “This is one of many proposals that we are currently running a public consultation into, for the 'Re-imagining Norfolk' budget proposals.
 
“These are ways in which Norfolk County Council proposes to reshape services in the face of further cuts in national funding, rising demand, and the need to deliver its key priorities.
 
“Among the many proposals are ways in which Norfolk’s children’s centres are run in the future.
 
“Norfolk county councillors will consider the results of the consultation at the council’s budget meeting on 22 February next year.”
 
The consultation will run until 14 January next year.