Children's centres in the North East could face axe

Gateshead Council has acknowledged that centre closures are being considered and at least 47 jobs could be under threat as part of efforts to cut 54 per cent of its Sure Start budget. Information and guidance for parents, support for childcare providers and play services for children with additional needs may also be reduced.

The Save Gateshead Sure Start campaign has set up petitions online and at local nurseries and schools, and has secured permission from Sure Start centres for petitions to be distributed on their premises.

Local companies have volunteered their support, including a Gateshead taxi firm which has agreed to distribute cards with a link to the campaign website to all its customers.

Campaign manager Sarah Muller, (pictured), estimates that the campaign’s petitions now have more than 500 signatures.

Ms Muller set up the campaign in October after the council opened its budget consultation for 2014/16 in which it outlined its proposals to bridge a funding gap of £45m.

As a regular visitor to two of her local Sure Start centres, with her 17-month-old son and as a volunteer breast-feeding peer counsellor, Ms Muller said that while both are well attended, she fears they may not survive if they are deemed not to be located in a high-risk area of need.

‘We know the council has to make cuts, but we want it to be fair,' she said. 'The centres do so much for people. For my son it’s a place to interact with other children that he wouldn’t have otherwise as he doesn’t have family living nearby. Lots of people are in that situation and so the centres help with a major part of development.

‘I’ve been able to help a lot of mums in my volunteering role in the same way that I was helped to breast-feed by the centre myself, and the idea that mums in the future won’t have that is just awful. There’s not a lot for new mums out there – there are some workshops but they all come with a charge. Sure Start centres are where a lot of people learn how to be parents.’

Last month Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, condemned the rush to close children’s centres. She said, ‘Local authorities are under extreme financial pressure to make tough decisions, but the long term social and financial rewards will come with filling up, not closing down these crucial centres, which have already provided a cost-effective lifeline for hundreds of thousands of families.

‘Rather than contemplating reductions and closures, we should instead seize the opportunity to make the most of centres’ growing potential to help avert family crises. This means improving the way in which they pool resources and budgets with local partners; making additional investment; and committing wholeheartedly to keeping their doors open to families of all backgrounds.’

The Gateshead consultation runs until 17 December.

To sign the Save Gateshead Sure Start petition go to https://consultation.gateshead.gov.uk

Newcastle

Meanwhile, Newcastle City Council has confirmed that all 20 Sure Start centres in the city are under threat as the council faces budget cuts of one third (£100m).

In original proposals set out in 2012, five children’s centres were to be protected from closure. This has been amended, and all 20 centres will now be reviewed in order to make savings of £4m on Sure Start services over the next three years.

The council confirmed that fourteen members of staff will be made redundant this year, followed by a further 45 in 2014/15. The current workforce will be reduced by 60 per cent by 2016.

In its revised early years and childcare three-year budget proposal, Newcastle City Council accused Government cuts of being ‘heavily skewed against Newcastle and the North East’ and condemned their ‘damaging impact’ on its capacity to deliver public services.

Director of Wellbeing, Care and Learning Ewen Weir said, ‘Newcastle City Council must save an extra £7m in 2014/15, this is on top of the savings it committed to in its three-year budget published last year.

‘These new proposals - which cover everything from Sure Start centres to reviewing our adult meals service – are designed to help the council balance its books while retaining services to the city’s vulnerable. At this stage these are proposals, and we will now enter a period of consultation where we will listen to views and amend where we can. I’d urge anyone who has an interest to get involved to help shape the final budget proposals which will be put to full council in March next year.’

A consultation on the proposals will take place in January and run for two-and-a half weeks.