Children's Centres Review

Public Consultation

Sefton Council have consulted on proposals to merge Children’s Centres which will rationalise management structures across two or three centres. The proposals may change services across centres and we are currently mapping provision to protect frontline services as much as possible. In addition we also consulted on whether to introduce some charging for non-essential services and activities, provided families on low income/benefits do not have to pay.

The consultation responses will be evaluated and reported back to the Review Board in November 2011 and recommendations taking the responses into account will be made. Decisions on the review will be made by Sefton Council in December 2011. Once the decision has been made it will then be publicised across the Borough in Children’s Centres, libraries, on the website and to schools and partners in writing.

Open Meeting

A Children’s Centre Next Steps Meeting was held on 31st January 10am-1pm at Formby PDC.

This was an open meeting for all Parents & Carers to come along and:

Find out what was said at the Review
What happened as a result
How parents want to be involved in the future

Minutes of Next Steps Meeting pdf 129kb

Review Board

Sefton Children's Centres were established to provide access to a range of community health services; parenting and family support; outreach services; integrated early education and childcare, with links to training and employment opportunities for families with children aged under 5.

Sefton has a total of 15 designated children centres, across 20 bases, which were developed in three phases, according to central government policy at the time. It is a mixed model with a high proportion school based, some co-located with social care and one led by the voluntary sector.

As part of Council’s review of future service provision within a reducing budget, they have agreed to undertake a strategic review of Sefton Children’s Centres for the following purpose:

To identify a sustainable model for the delivery of Sefton Children Centres that takes full account of the changing national policy.

Membership of the Review Board includes the following: