Despite the headlines, some local authorities are keeping all their children's centres open on a smaller budget by merging management and administration, sharing sites with other services and working in different ways.
Only a year ago we were celebrating the creation of more than 3,500 children's centres, unparalleled investment into services and support for children and families. Now all the talk is about cuts and closures.
We all know that local authorities face extreme financial crises, forced into deciding what gets cut, what gets dropped. So why are some committed to keeping centres open while others are slashing services?
By law, all local authorities have a duty to ensure that appropriate consultation has been carried out before closing children's centres and making significant changes to the services offered. But how meaningful is consultation? Of course parents will object to closures, but if the local authority insists that the money to run centres is not there then they will close.
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