It is part of an 8m programme of cuts in the county, which willalso hit the youth service. A council spokesman said savings had to bemade to finance adult care services.
This week, Barbara Sampson, head of early years and Sure Start at CamdenCouncil, added her voice to the chorus of concerns about funding forchildren's centres. "It's going to be a huge struggle to make centreswork with the budgets we have," she said.
"There are concerns across the country about how to both sustainchildren's centres and make them affordable for parents. Unless wereceive the resources, local authorities will not be able to provide thequality of services that are needed."
Last week, Children Now reported that four children's centres' directorsdisputed a claim by children's minister Beverley Hughes that children'scentres are being funded at around 66 per cent of the level associatedwith the original Sure Start centres.
"The figures we have seen propose that centres in Kent will have to runon close to 160,000 per annum. This compares with an average peakof funding level of around 750,000 per annum for Sure Startcentres," they said.
