The authority will close 10 of its 22 children’s centres as part of a bid to reduce its early years and childcare service spend from £5m to £2.2m by 2016.
Initially, the council had planned to close 13 centres but decided to save three from closure following an extensive public consultation and widespread opposition to the plans.
Under the original plans, the council had wanted to merge the nine remaining centres into seven clusters but that plan has now been scrapped.
Instead, the 12 saved centres will continue to operate as separate settings with individual management teams and services.
The council will now have to find a further £350,000 to pay for the retention of the extra buildings and to fund services at each of the three centres.
The authority has revealed it underspent by £1m during 2013/14 and will plough the money back into its services, but not children’s centres.
Commenting on the decision, councillor Roger Stone, leader of Rotherham Borough Council, said: “The government withdrew its funding for children’s centres two years ago, but Rotherham kept ours open and found the funding.
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