Half of council's children's centres to close in bid to save £3.5m
Gabriella Jozwiak
Friday, February 24, 2017
A council is to close half of its children's centre provision and convert the remaining ones to provide services for children aged up to 19, in a bid to save more than £3.5m.
Essex County Council currently operates 37 registered children's centres, which are supported by 38 so-called "delivery sites".
But from 1 April 2017, the number of registered children's centres will be cut by 25, with the remaining 12 being renamed "family hubs", offering support services and activities for 50 hours a week.
Meanwhile 13 delivery sites will cease to operate, leaving 25 which will become "family hub delivery sites", offering support for between 20 and 30 hours a week, including at weekends.
In total, 38 of the exisiting 75 sites will cease to offer services.
Essex County Council anticipates the changes will save £3.56m - a 10 per cent reduction on its current spend. The announcement follows cuts to services in 2014, when the council reduced the number of registered children's centres from 86 to 37.
Essex County Council said that research it conducted shows that by relocating children's centre staff in local delivery sites, where families are able to access services more easily, the number of families the children's centres reached increased from 34,596 in 2013/14 to 42,274 in 2015/16 - a rise of 22 per cent.
Plans published by the authority said the changes would: "Give greater flexibility to practitioners, allowing them to respond to the needs of families and to allow work with families where they want to receive support, for example in their homes or in clinics or play areas."
The council is currently considering how to use the closed children's centres buildings, with one option being to provide extra childcare places.
The decision followed a public consultation on the proposals held in 2016.