Leicester confirms children's centre job losses

The council wants to restructure its network of children’s centres in a bid to save £3.3m from its early intervention service.

Under the plans, all 23 children’s centres will be kept open as "delivery sites", where parents and children will be able to access a range of support services.

They will form a network of six clusters, with centres in each working together to deliver services that the council says will still meet the needs of families living in communities.

The authority will cut spending on the service by reducing management costs and has confirmed that 96 full-time positions will be lost, reducing staff numbers from 323 to 227.

However, a council spokeswoman has said that 50 of the positions earmarked to go are currently vacant or being filled by agency staff, who are being “phased out”.

Of the remaining 46 posts, 31 are management, meaning there will be minimal impact on frontline services.

She said: “Of the remaining 15 posts, we have had 32 expressions of interest in voluntary redundancy.

“Although we can’t say for definite at this stage, this means it is likely there will be no compulsory redundancies for frontline staff.”

A council report reveals that the council also seeks to achieve some of its savings by reducing the number of services available at the children’s centres.

Councillor Vi Dempster, executive lead for children, young people and schools, said that cuts in government funding for children’s centres forced the council to review its service.

A local campaign group has launched an online petition against the cuts.