The move is being made as the local authority looks to focus support for families with children up to the age of 19 from next year, rather than specifically for pre-school age children.
A shift to providing more services online following the Covid pandemic is another factor.
This is “reducing the need for the same number of premises,” according to a report being presented to councillors next week.
It adds that while prior to 2015 its children and families early help services was delivered “from a significant number of premises”, over the last nine years “the use of some of these buildings has significantly reduced”.
This use of buildings further declined following a restructure of the council’s children and families’ services in 2019.
A 28-day consultation on the closure of the children’s centres is set to take place at the end of this month.
If approved by councillors, formal centre de-registration forms could be submitted to the Department for Education by October.
Among those earmarked for closure are three centres in Harrogate and Knaresborough, which have received a total of £2.9m in Sure Start funding.
Only one centre, in Sherburn Library, has not received any Sure Start funding.
Sure Start funding for the centres totals £12.2m. While the council's report warns there is a risk the DfE could request this money is returned, it points out that as they have been open for more than a decade any request for the full amount would be unlikely.
The report also points out that there was no previous financial clawback from central government following previous children’s centre closures in the county.
Between 2014 and 2016 there were 13 closures of children’s centres in the county.
According to Unison more than a third of council-run children’s centres in England have closed since 2010.
While there were 3,106 local authority centres in 2010/11, financially stretched councils had closed 1,168 by the end of March last year, according to the union’s research based on Freedom of Information disclosures.
Unison’s local government head Mike Short said that centre closures leave “vulnerable families in deprived areas and isolated communities beyond the reach of support teams”.
He added: “Cuts to these crucial services merely create more problems and costs for the future. Ministers and council leaders should invest in children’s centres as part of wider plans to stabilise council finances and provide a boost to parents and youngsters.”
North Yorkshire Council has been contacted for comment.
