Cuts proposed to Wolverhampton children's centres
Katy Morton
Monday, March 18, 2013
Plans to reduce provision at more than half of Wolverhampton City Council's children's centres have been put out for consultation.
Wolverhampton City Council says that it needs to make savings of £1.5m per year after seeing the funding it receives through the Early Intervention Grant cut by nearly a third over the next two years, the equivalent of £3.8m.
As a result, the council has launched a three-month consultation into plans to restructure its 17 children’s centres.
Proposals include keeping eight existing children’s centres, while reducing the provision at the other nine centres which would be used to deliver occasional sessions for children and parents.
Management and back office functions could also be ‘streamlined’ in order to make savings.
According to the council, each area will continue to have its own children’s centre delivering a wide range of services to children under five and their families. It says that integrating services in this way will enable families to access a wide range of support more easily.
John Welsby, Wolverhampton City Council’s assistant director for children, young people and families, said, ‘The reduction in funding through the Early Intervention Grant regrettably means that we cannot continue to fund the children’s centres as we do at present.
‘However, we are determined to minimise the impact that this will have by continuing to provide the help and support that young children and their families in Wolverhampton need.
‘The proposals seek to achieve savings by focusing on reducing the amount we’re spending on buildings, management and administration, rather than on frontline services. Depending on the funding that’s available and what priorities are identified in each area, we hope to also be able to provide services in parts of the city which are currently not well served.’
He added, ‘Clearly with such a big reduction in funding we have to make tough decisions, but we’ll be working with children's centre managers to draw up a set of proposals for each area based on the needs of local children and their families.
‘The proposals will then go out to wider consultation with service users, local residents and other stakeholders, and we’ll be ensuring that people will have every opportunity to have their say.’
