Managers who have attended briefings by Naomi Eisenstadt, the head of the Government's Sure Start Unit, say they were told this was when cash would begin to be channelled through local authorities, which is much sooner than expected.
Some say this will make it harder to plan services while others fear that without ringfenced funding their programmes could collapse. The Sure Start grant is set to be diverted through local authorities to help them develop multi-agency children's centres.
"The Government has put a lot of money into Sure Start but it feels like they are not protecting it," one manager said.
"They just hope local authorities will embrace this agenda. The reality on the ground is we come up against quite powerful local economic and political agendas and there is nothing to stop local authorities spending the money elsewhere."
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