Families to run self-help services as part of ‘radical' shake-up in Birmingham

Birmingham City Council, which has been rated "inadequate" for children’s services since 2008, plans to save £16m from its early years budget by 2020.

"To enable us to deliver the results we want for children and parents we will need to radically rethink how we will work in the future," the council said.

Part of its proposals involve reducing some early years services and getting families to provide "self-help" support to other families.

A document on the plans reveals that the council still wants to provide a "universal offer" to all children, with parents and children requiring extra help being "identified early" so that additional support can be put in place.

"By targeting our services in this way the types of services individual children will get in the future will be different," the document states.

"Some children who require additional support will get more, while others who are doing really well may find services they previously accessed like stay and play services are no longer available to them.

"To complement the services provided through our proposed model we will work to support the development of locally run self-help services provided by families for families."

The document also reveals that the council may have to consider closing some of the 61 children's centres in the city.

It states that plans to have services in places that children and families use most often means early years provision "might share space with other services or develop drop-in sessions at a range of places within the community".

"As a consequence we may need fewer buildings in the future and may be able as a consequence to invest the money we have in services for children rather than maintaining these buildings," it adds.

"We also believe that these proposals would allow more people to access services. Where these proposals develop into firmer ideas in relation to the closure of specific buildings, such as children’s centres, further consultation would happen."

Birmingham’s early years services provide support for around 100,000 parents and 80,000 children at any one time. The consultation runs until 28 February.