Agenda item

(Report of the Director of the Children and Young People’s Service): To set out proposals, following the period of consultation, to maintain effective children’s centre services within the available budget and based upon the principles agreed by Cabinet:

·        maintaining a full children’s centre services offer in our most deprived areas

·        ensuring that the delivery of services reflect local needs;

·        shared management and other jobs across centres;

·        flexibility amongst staff working across Children’s Centres

·        the closure of centres if the financial appraisals suggest that we are unable to maintain high quality, effective services across all centres.

(Report of the Director of the Children and Young Peoples’ Service – Agenda Item 3):

It was noted that in February 2011 the Cabinet had agreed savings of £6.519 million from Haringey’s Early Years’ and Children Centre programme and had recommended charges to the fees charged for childcare in Childrens’ Centres. Reductions to central staffing costs and commissioning budgets were agreed and a public consultation was held between 16 March and 22 April on how the Children’s Centre delivery programme should be configured within the revised budget constraints. The underpinning principle for the model of provision was that the most vulnerable families living in the most deprived areas would be the priority for future service delivery. An addendum to the consultation was issued on 5 April 2011 making explicit the Childrens’ Centres that would be at risk of closure if the available finances could not sustain all existing centres. Almost 1,000 responses had been made to the online consultation as well as 13 public meetings and over 65 e-mails and letters and alternative proposals had been received.

It was reported that serious concerns had been expressed by all sections of the community about any reductions to resources for this age group of children. National research had consistently demonstrated that the early intervention with young children could prevent greater problems developing as they got older. However, given the scale of reductions that the Council had to make as a result of the changes in Government funding, the over-whelming response from the consultation was support for the proposal to focus the resources that remained on provision for the most vulnerable families living in the areas of greatest deprivation. The report now submitted set out the model that would be adopted for delivering it. Childrens’ Centres would be reorganised into four clusters with staff directly employed by the local authority. A Service Level Agreement would be in place that prioritised the most vulnerable and set out the provision required to support the best outcomes for these families. The report also proposed the establishment of Local Partnership Boards in each cluster who would ensure that Children’s Centres worked together to deliver an offer within each locality that would provide the full range of services to the families that most needed them and would link with the other partnerships operating in the locality. Funding would no longer be provided to support the following Children’s Centres:

·        Highgate

·        Northbank

·        Rokesly

·        Tower Gardens

The central commissioning of services would continue to support the most vulnerable families wherever they lived and to provide specialist family support for the families that were most at risk, wherever they lived. No significant changes were proposed to the current pattern of NHS Haringey services that already operated across Childrens’ Centres.

Subject to agreement, a new fee structure was proposed from September 2011 that would reduce the subsidy provided for childcare. A further review of the impact of this was planned, so that fees charged would be linked to family income and a sliding scale would be introduced from April 2012. A full equalities impact assessment of these changes would be completed.

RESOLVED

1.      That the feedback from consultation summarised in Section 16 of the interleaved report and in detail in Appendix 3 and the Equalities Impact Assessment as set out at Appendix 4 be noted.

2.      That approval be granted to the arrangements for the delivery of Childrens’ Centre services in Haringey as set out in Sections 17 - 19 of the interleaved report.

3.      That officers engage in consultation with affected staff on the staffing changes that follow from these arrangements.

4.      That a report seeking agreement to the changes to childcare fees as set out in Section 21 of the interleaved report be prepared and that an assessment of the equalities impact of the increases be carried out.