The Royal Borough of Greenwich has launched a consultation on a proposed restructuring of services provided by Children’s Centres.
The Council runs 23 Children’s Centres, more than any other local authority in south-east London.
Each site currently offers early help services and activities ranging from infant feeding, midwifery and health visiting to soft play, baby massage and forest school.
Adel Khaireh, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said: “We know how important it is to give our children the best possible start in life.
“Like other councils across the country, we are facing the inevitable consequences of years of cuts by the former government. We need to make savings of around £33.7 million, including £2 million from the running of our Children’s Centres. Despite this, £3.6 million will continue to be invested into the service, more than any other south-east London borough.
“Lots of local families really value and benefit from the advice, activities, and support on offer at our Children’s Centres.
“That’s why we are so determined to reshape these services in a way that will ensure help is still available, despite the need to make savings. But we need our residents to help us by taking part in this important consultation.”
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We are currently proposing changes to services at 14 centres. While some activities may no longer run at certain sites, our proposals include more spaces for children at nurseries and increased support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families.
Some of the most vital services, such as home visits for families, health visiting, infant feeding, and midwifery, will continue to run. The centres with proposed changes were chosen due to a mixture of cost, size and how well used they are.
We worked closely with our three main providers: Quaggy Development Trust, HomeStart Greenwich and Better/GLL to shape these proposals, which will protect vital Children’s Centres services in the future while reducing costs.
Before any decisions are made, we want people’s views on how changes might affect them and their families and other ways in which we can meet the challenges we face.
We also want to know what alternative venues and community settings residents would consider using, and whether alternative ways of delivering some services might be suitable.
