A further 100 children's centres face closure

The union Unison has collated details of all English councils’ children’s centre reviews and found 102 are either being considered for closure or have had closure plans confirmed.

The news comes just a month after it emerged that 99 children’s centres closed in the six months between 1 January and 30 June this year, bringing the total number of children's centre closures since 2010 to 250. More than half of those closed were by just seven local authorities.

According to research by Unison, 10 centres are under threat of closure in Liverpool.

Sutton Council has been reviewing the future of 14 of its centres, with three centres at risk in Doncaster.

Meanwhile, Walsall Council plans to close five centres and nine centres will close their doors in Suffolk.

The figures were revealed by Unison as part of a report by campaign group Labour Friends of Sure Start.

The report, called Sure Start, What Future? also includes comment from, among others, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for education, Tristram Hunt.

Hunt said he wanted to see every Labour-run council make “protecting Sure Start centres in disadvantaged areas a spending priority”.

He added that investing in the early development support offered in centres was crucial because “evidence that early child development has important consequences for a whole host of future outcomes – from mental health, employment and material success, right through to the propensity to commit crime or abuse substances – is conclusive.”

Also writing in the report, Helen Berresford, director of external affairs at the charity 4Children, called for children’s centres to be transformed into children and family hubs, offering wider support for families beyond early years.

She said: “This approach would mean breaking down silos, still too often a feature of service-delivery, by working across professions and sectors and supporting the whole family.

"And importantly at this time, co-locating and co-ordinating services in such a way would also make the best use of investment from the public purse.”

Graham Allen MP, who chairs the Early Intervention Foundation, used the document to argue the economic case for investing in early intervention as a way of reducing social and health problems in later life.

He said children’s centres were “one of the key early intervention tools” adding that they should “take a leading role in the early intervention agenda, prioritising evidence-based services which help children to develop a strong social and emotional bedrock and in doing so, heading off future problems before they are able to take root.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “It is vital that every child, regardless of their background, is given the opportunity to realise their full potential.

"We have invested more than £2bn in early intervention services, including enough funding to retain a national network of children’s centres. A record number of parents – more than one million – are now benefitting from children's centres.

“Councils have a duty to ensure sufficient children’s centres to meet local need and to ensure they consult before any significant changes are made, including taking into account the views of local families and communities. Local councils are best placed to decide on provision in their communities.”