A quarter of Kents childrens centres could close
Katy Morton
Friday, July 5, 2013
More than 20 of Kent's children's centres could close if plans, currently out for consultation, are given the go-ahead.
Kent County Council is considering closing 23 of the county’s 97 children’s centres, excluding Medway. More than 80 of the centres are managed by the council.
Children's centres in Medway, Kent are exempt from the consultation.
According to the council, no changes will be made to nursery provision at the children’s centres.
In order to make savings of at least £1.5m, the council is also prosposing linking some of the centres to save on management and administrative costs.
The county council has identified 16 ‘lead centres’, larger buildings in communities which its says there is greater demand for early support services.
The ‘lead centre’ - which would be called a ‘Children’s Centre Plus’ - would co-ordinate services across the linked centres.
The opening hours of 13 of the county's children centres could also be reduced to 18 hours a week.
According to the council, some children’s centres are more popular than others, the majority of families use more than one centre, and most families do not use centres after 3pm.
Just two years ago, Kent County Council pledged to keep all of its children’s centres open and said that no centre would have its budget cut by more than 11 per cent.
Jenny Whittle, Kent County Council cabinet member for specialist children’s services, said, ‘The council is committed to continuing to provide the services we currently offer through our children’s centres and continuing to make a difference to the future of families we help through those centres. We need to make efficiency savings and will seek to do this by minimising property and management costs.
‘We are committed to seeking the views of those families for whom children’s centres provide important services. We will be conducting a full public consultation over the summer to gather views on our proposals.
‘We recognise how important these services are to many families and we are looking at new and different ways to deliver them to the people who need them most.’
- The 12-week consultation closes on 4 October 2013.
