At the latest hearing of the education select committee’s inquiry into children’s centres, MPs heard that continued government cuts to council budgets mean most children’s centres will soon be forced to offer only a targeted service for the most vulnerable families.
London Councils executive member for children and young people, Councillor Peter John, said future cuts will "expose the tension" between the universal and targeted offers.
"There just won’t be that universal offer and children’s centres will be where the most disadvantaged kids get sent", he said, adding that many centres were now "picking up troubled families".
David Simmonds, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “There will be those [councils] with plenty of mileage to go in their budgets and then there will be those that are getting closer to the edge of where services are not sustainable.”
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