Hampshire County Council has awarded contracts worth £50m for the delivery of children’s centre services in its region to three national charities.
The new providers for Sure Start centres in the region are Action for Children, 4Children and Children’s Links. Action for Children has been awarded contracts to run 13 of the total of 15 clusters, whereas 4Children will be working in partnership with schools and the Southern Health NHS Trust to deliver services in the Fareham community, and with the same Trust alongside Children’s Links to deliver services in the Eastleigh Southern Parishes.
The Council is comitting a total of £50m: £9m for each year over a five-year period, with an additional £1m per year going towards managing other activities benefitting families in the region.
More than 20 Sure Start centres nationwide have been closed since May 2010, but Hampshire County Council says that this move will strengthen the future of children’s centre provision across Hampshire and take them into “a future where funding is concentrated more on service provision than bureaucracy and management”.
“The new providers are all well established and bring with them a wealth of experience in providing high quality services and support to children and families including the successful delivery of children’s centres locally and nationally,” the Council said in a statement, adding that these organisations were chosen for their binding commitment to the protection of frontline staff and that their collective bids presented good value.
The new contracts will take effect from 23 April 2012 and services will continue to be delivered in the 81 geographical locations where a children’s centre currently exists, as well as from the many other venues that are currently used.
Councillor Roy Perry, Hampshire County Council’s deputy leader and executive lead member for children’s services, added: “In recognition of the valuable contribution they have made, and because of the quality of the successful bids, we are now going to be able to invest a further £1m additional resource in all children’s centres to support their partnerships with local community organisations and schools. We will be working with current local providers to identify opportunities for continued partnership working with them. I am sure they will see that as good news.”
However, the reaction of one of the care centres in question was not as uniformly positive.
Colin Smith, chair of the board of trustees of the Carroll Centre, a charity organisation based in Stanmore, Winchester which encompasses the Carroll SureStart Children's Centre, told civilsociety.co.uk that the charity contract could mean cutting the centre's level of service.
"We know that we could be badly affected by this change in contract, with provisions reduced and possible staff cuts," said Smith. "But we will do everything we can to minimise the impact and will continue to work with Hampshire County Council to ensure that families in Winchester receive our ongoing support."
