Policy and Politics
Council cuts 'will destroy provision' for disadvantaged children
Early years settings in the London Borough of Westminster have been told they are facing immediate cuts to funding aimed at helping disadvantaged children.
The cuts will affect settings in both the PVI sector and the maintained sector that receive funding for subsidised childcare places and family support to disadvantaged families.
Two of Westminster's maintained early years settings, which admit a proportion of children designated as in need, face in-year cuts of around £90,000 to funding for these children, Nursery World has learned.
Westminster City Council confirmed that it is making in-year cuts of £1.5m to its children’s services budget and named the Portman Early Childhood Centre as one setting that faces the immediate loss of £100,000.
Councillor Nickie Aiken, the council’s cabinet member for children's services, said, ‘The centre has historically received a higher level of funding than other nurseries or children's centres. However, in the present financial climate the current levels of spending are simply unsustainable. As funding gets tighter we have to channel the money we have to priority areas.
‘We are working closely with the Portman as they work on restructuring their service and also to explore how their services could be delivered through greater collaboration with our partners. We will ensure that all those affected are kept fully informed.’
A source from one of the settings, who asked not to be identified, said, 'It's an appalling situation. There are going to be massive cuts in services for vulnerable children, which could destroy early intervention and preventative work in our area. There will be almost no free daycare places for disadvantaged children.
'Our budgets have been set since April, but we have been told to make these in-year cuts.'
Westminster has four maintained nursery schools, three of which are children's centres located in its two poorest wards. The nursery schools are also set to lose funding under the Early Years Single Funding Formula, which is to be implemented from September.
A source from another setting, who also asked to remain anonymous, said, 'While most of our funding comes directly from parent fees, we still depend on a variety of additional streams to help us offer childcare to a broader range of families - either at significantly reduced rates or even for free, in specific cases. However, it now looks like one of our key funding streams will be cut, and if we receive any money at all, it will come through intermittently, which will make it very difficult for us to consistently plan ahead.
'In the short term, this means we will have to significantly reduce the number of subsidised places we offer, meaning that it will become even harder for parents on low incomes to access the quality childcare that they really need.'
Pauline Trudell, vice-president of the National Campaign for Nursery Education, said, 'The scale of Westminster's cuts will effectively destroy the early years provision they should be most proud of. It also runs counter to the most recent Government pledge to treat as a priority the measures that most directly affect attainment for the poorest pupils.'
