Families in Totland, on the Isle of Wight, struggle to get around. As well as poor public transport, wages are low. "Some of our families are only a mile away but when you've got kids and no transport that can seem an awful lot further. That is why we use our outreach workers to get as close to them as we can," explains Sylvia Richards, committee chair for West Wight Nursery Children's Centre.
It's one of a number of children's centres that are putting a big emphasis on outreach work, something the government wants to see become a staple part of all centres' provision. A £4bn package of funding was announced last summer for children's centres, early years and childcare. Centres in areas where at least half the children are in the bottom 30 per cent of the population in terms of disadvantage will be able to employ two specialist outreach workers from this pot.
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