Provision
Early intervention call to arms before £5.4m cuts
Proposals to cut more than £5.4m from children's services, including almost £1.7m from early intervention provision, have been published by Westminster council in London.
The plans suggest the cuts could be made by 'improving the targeting' of early intervention, and that £675,000 could be saved over two years by reducing the provision of specialist services for children with special educational needs.
The proposals come after the council made immediate cuts of £1.5m to children's services last year, which early years experts warned would 'destroy' the best early years provision in the area (News, 18 August 2010).
June O'Sullivan, chief executive of the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), which has 14 settings in Westminster, said, 'I'm very concerned. Some of the children that we are taking for early intervention come from appalling backgrounds. Cutting this funding is a false economy, for children and families, and for society as a whole, and it will put a huge burden on schools'.
Ms O'Sullivan has called for childcare professionals to join forces and start a new campaign aimed at saving children's centres and early intervention services. Writing in her blog, she said, 'I believe the time has come for us to finally wake up and actually do something about this emerging catastrophe for children and families, especially across the capital. We need to mobilise ourselves and take action as a determined network of passionate and committed children's centre professionals.'
She added, 'It's true that some children's centres are better than others and some will have to go. But that doesn't mean reduced budgets cannot be resolved in a way that is planned, purposeful and sensitive to local communities ... As the picture of cuts continues to take shape, it seems incumbent on us to hatch a much needed plan for survival, sustainability and reshaping, and one finally based around an inter-generational model'.
A spokesperson for Westminster council said that no decision had been made on the cuts, as the budget will be set in March.
