England's national play strategy is set to lose £5m of funding as part of the £670m savings the Department for Education (DfE) was last week ordered to make for 2010/11. The sum might seem like a drop in the ocean compared with the £6.24bn of public spending cuts across the board, but it is likely to impact on the play sector's attempts to produce better outcomes for children.
Published in 2008, the strategy dedicated £235m to improving children's play opportunities (see box). The majority was capital funding, for 3,500 new or refurbished play areas and 30 adventure playgrounds.
The DfE has confirmed that capital funding for new playgrounds will not be cut, but £5m must be saved from the rest of the pot.
As part of the strategy, 30 "pathfinder" authorities were given about £2m to build innovative play areas and adventure playgrounds, as well as £500,000 revenue funding. Every other local authority each received about £1.1m in funding for play areas plus £45,000 for other costs.
Revenue funding cut
Nick Jackson is play development manager for The Learning Trust in Hackney, one of the first pathfinder areas. He was expecting a small amount of revenue funding this year to staff the four refurbished adventure playgrounds, but now it is not clear if this will be forthcoming.
"It would seem a bit short-sighted having spent millions on playgrounds to not back that up with some funding for revenue," he says. "These playgrounds are about providing a proper childhood experience. Increasingly, children growing up in an urban environment have so many pressures and a lack of opportunities to play and be themselves."
Savings will also be found in the Play Shaper training programme, although the DfE is vague about the details. The programme offers every local authority a one-day seminar on the role of play within children's services. The sessions give planners, developers, housing providers and police an insight into how they can contribute to making communities child-friendly by creating more play opportunities.
A DfE spokesman says the government will take "a much lighter touch" to delivering Play Shaper.
Ute Navidi, director of London Play, says the programme has been hugely successful to date, and does not see how the one-day session could be reduced. "Through the programme different professionals are made to realise that play is more than just a frivolous extra," she says. "It actually makes a difference to children's lives," she adds.
Play England is not safe from the cuts either. The national body delivering the play strategy will have a "reduced and more targeted" role, according to the DfE. But Adrian Voce, Play England director, says his organisation will have a say in the finer details of proposed savings.
"It is by no means the end of the play strategy," he says. "Any reduction in funding is to be regretted but play has to take its share and we're happy to be discussing how the government can make savings with the least impact on children."
Capital funds not ringfenced
However, Voce is concerned that capital funding for play areas may still be vulnerable, because of last week's announcement that ringfencing of £1.7bn in grants to local authorities will be removed. "We expect a number of local authorities to opt out of using their capital funding for new play areas," he says.
The DfE has also said the national evaluation of new play sites, currently being conducted by Ipsos Mori, will be "reassessed". Although the details are not yet clear, early proposals suggest the play strategy will no longer be evaluated or monitored as rigorously by the state.
For many professionals the strategy was not merely about new playgrounds. It was about recognising the contribution of play to children's services as a whole and giving playworkers more local presence.
"The play strategy is important because, for the first time, we had a government which said it was committed to play," says Meynell Walter, whose organisation, Meynell Games Group, provides playwork training and out-of-school provision for children and young people. "Any cut to what is only a very small amount of money going to playwork will have negative implications for future generations."
WHAT THE NATIONAL PLAY STRATEGY PROMISED
- Invest £235m in up to 3,500 play areas across England
- Give additional funding to 30 pathfinder local authorities, part of which will be used to develop large, supervised adventure playgrounds
- Contract Play England to be the national delivery partner and significantly expand its capacity, allowing it to provide local authorities with expertise, planning advice and guidance
- Enable 4,000 playworkers to achieve a level 3 playwork qualification by 2011
- Jointly with Play England, publish draft guidance on how children's trusts and local strategic partnerships can respond to children's play needs as they plan services and neighbourhoods
WHERE THE CUTS COULD HIT
- A "reduced and more targeted role" for Play England
- Revenue funding to staff and maintain the play pathfinder schemes
- Play Shaper programme, where planners, developers, housing providers and police are trained on the role of play in creating child-friendly communities
- Investment in the evaluation of new play sites
- Capital funding for play areas, given the removal of ringfencing in grants to local authorities
