Bexley targets those in most need with new children’s centre structure – after £400,000 cuts

A new model will see a dedicated in-house children’s centre team for each project – but the measure will take £400,000 out of their budget.

Bexley council will provide targeted support to children and their families, running sessions in the Children Centres and other venues across the borough.

This team would be in addition to the existing services already provided by health visitors and midwives.

The changes will see more services run from Children’s Centre buildings as well as from venues across the borough, including, libraries, leisure centres and community buildings.

This will give families more choice and allow them to be able to access services nearer to their homes.

The changes follow two rounds of consultation with parents, carers, partners, local community groups, residents and staff.

A council officers’ report stated: ““Almost all stakeholders and partners indicated that they were concerned that 6 FTE (full time equivalent) members of staff would be insufficient to support families across the borough.”

Cllr Wendy Perfect, Labour opposition spokesperson for children services, said: “We agree with the council’s stakeholders and partners, particularly as there is no evidence in the report that suggests that this new model will be successful in reaching more vulnerable families, just a lot of information that we already knew
about the demographics of deprivation in Bexley.
“The report says that a continuous review of the service will be carried out by a partnership board and a parents’ forum. These bodies have failed to carry out this work in Bexley in the past and there is nothing in the report to suggest that they will succeed in the future.
“We also note that Danson Youth Trust, the most popular children centre in Bexley – as highlighted by the fact that 82% of the responses to the second consultation had used this centre in the last two years – put forward four alternative models for consideration, which were rejected. That will be a big disappointment to those residents who use this well-liked children centre.
“Tory MP’s Angela Leadsom’s work, ‘The best part of life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days’, is the latest piece of research to confirm that the first two years of a child’s life is the most important in terms of children’s development and achieving better physical and emotional health outcomes. This cut is devastating for everyone involved and passionate about early years in Bexley, particularly as it comes at a time when the Coronavirus has had such a negative impact on the youngest in our society.

“If Bexley’s early years partners and stakeholders are right and this new model doesn’t achieve the suggested outcomes in the report with 6 FTE members of staff, then the cabinet member who supports this proposal should take responsibility in the future.
“That won’t be much consolation for parents now but, as the waste collection strike demonstrated, our residents are fed up with this administration not taking responsibility for the poor decisions it makes.”

But cabinet member for children’s services, Cllr Philip Read said: “This decision follows over a year of extensive in-depth analysis, looking at the needs of local families with under-fives, the way we use our buildings and national guidance.

I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to have their say at one of our many focus group sessions or by filling in an online or paper survey form.

“We are about to enter an exciting new phase for our centres. We will be offering more venues to make it easier to access activities while allowing us to target those most in need.

The changes will also allow us to increase our partnership work with Health partners.”

The changes will be implemented from 1 November 2021

The full report including consultation results and detailed analysis is available here www.bexley.gov.uk/democracy