Council defends decision to end control of its children’s services
SENIOR COUNCILLORS have defended their decision to end their control of three children’s centres and close five youth centres, claiming the move will safeguard – and in some cases improve – the services they offer.
Rotherham Council’s cabinet agreed yesterday to give up control of a series of children’s and youth centres across the borough, with some of the buildings handed over to other bodies, including schools. It is expected the changes will save the cash-strapped authority around £500,000, contributing to the £30m the council has to save over the next two years.
But the decision has been criticised by campaigners who argued the services were vital to increase early years support for families.
The council said the changes would give it the opportunity to train its early years staff to provide new services which are aimed at keeping more children away from going into care.
The numbers of council children’s centres will reduce from 12 to nine, with other activities now set to take place at the sites in Park View, Broom Valley and Wath Victoria under external control. Leases for youth centres at Herringthorpe, Treeton, Kiveton, Maltby and Swinton will also be surrendered, with staff moved to other bases.
Coun Gordon Watson said in the meeting: “This is not a decimation of the service. There is a lot of love for children’s centres; what people love is the staff and delivery. The staff and service will still be there, we believe this is the right thing to do. This is about continuing with a good service and moving it forwards to make it more targeted, within the constraints we have got.”
One service expected to be expanded is family group conferencing, where help is given to help extended families cope with problems.
The changes are the second and third phases of work planned to modernise the service and save money, with 10 children’s centres closing several years ago.
However, since those centres went the actual numbers using the services has increased.
The leader of the council, Coun Chris Read, conceded they would rather not be in a position of having to make cuts, but said: “We prioritise staff and services over buildings.
“There is not a single front line job which will be lost.”
Rotherham’s Labour MP Sarah Champion said she was “deeply disappointed”, and fears the organisational change could lead to services being increasingly vulnerable to further cuts.
She added: “I am of course sensitive to the extremely challenging financial circumstances RMBC (Rotherham Council) faces as a result of massive central government funding cuts. But I am clear that cutting the already much reduced Sure Start offer in Rotherham is not the right answer.”