Sure Start Children’s Centres Census 2014

Over the last decade and more over £10bn has been invested in Sure Start Children’s Centres to create a new “public service” for children and families of more than 3000 Centres, providing locality-based services and support within their communities. Since their establishment they have sought to change the face of children and family services. Where they work at their best they are successful in identifying disadvantaged children and families and providing specific support where they need it, moving decisively towards multiagency working bringing together health, education, family support and specialist support. Lessons learnt from these successful Children’s Centres offer a beacon for how services can be delivered as an accepted and highly trusted asset for the support of children and their families.

This is 4Children’s fourth annual national-level Census of Sure Start Children’s Centres. Each year we have surveyed a large number of Centres from which we have sought to build up a national picture of the reach and activities of the network across England, and changes taking place. This year’s Census is the most comprehensive and representative survey to date recognising the new landscape in which Centres are operating. Whilst retaining many of the questions asked in previous years, enabling us to compare responses, this is the first to reflect the reality that a majority of Centres now work as a cluster over more than one site. This year’s questions, and analysis, has therefore been updated to reflect this.

We are at a critical juncture for Children’s Centres with significant pressures upon, and reductions to, budgets in many areas of the country. Research by 4Children reviewing recent and current plans and consultations on Children’s Centre service provision across local authorities has found that many sites across the country are proposed for closure, merger, or reductions in the level of service on offer. As an increasing number of local authorities seek to review and reconfigure the future delivery of services, this year’s Census sets out to identify what changes are already underway or planned.

The results from this year’s survey indicate that, as a network, Children’s Centres have “come of age”, cementing their position as a trusted and valued community asset. As in 20132, record numbers of families – over one million – are benefitting from their support. In many areas they are at the heart of wider strategies to reduce poverty and support for struggling families. Nationally, Centres are supporting twothirds of the half million most vulnerable families.

With most Centres still delivered by local authorities, the picture painted by this year’s Census is one of some potential for further out-sourcing and commissioning of Children’s Centre services, with service delivery currently under review in many areas. In some cases this is part of a conscious shift to more effective and integrated delivery of services; in others these changes are a direct consequence and response to cuts in the available budget. And in many it’s a combination of both, with budget cuts the trigger to seek more creative solutions as local authorities seek to deliver “more from less”.

Overall there is a definitive shift taking place, away from single-site providers towards “clustering” of Centres’ management; and from universal to targeted services, increasingly in partnership with other service providers. Over three percent of sites are also expected to close over the coming year. Overall, we are in the middle of a period of rapid and ongoing reform, change, and some uncertainty over the future shape of the network.

Our analysis of the Department for Education’s data has found that, when compared to the level of spending in 2011/12, there has been an overall cut in spending on Children’s Centres and Early Years services of 20% over the three years from 2012/13 to 2014/15. The £3.36bn spent over the last three years is around £830m less than it otherwise would have been. This Census has found that over the coming year, cuts in budget will be the single biggest challenge for nearly two-thirds of the network.

This Census has also found that more than half of Centres expect to see changes to their management structure over the coming year. Almost half of those Centres operating as single (standalone) sites at the present time are set to move to become part of a managed cluster of centres, and even just under one-quarter of Centres already in a cluster, expect the number of sites and area their cluster covers to expand. More worrying, from the responses, we estimate that around 112 sites are set to close over the coming year. The aforementioned research carried out by 4Children reviewing local authority consultations suggests that this could even be an underestimate, with over 200 Centre sites - one-third of the current network under review - potentially at risk of closure.

Overall the findings of this Census cement the direction of travel established in previous years’ censuses, but suggest the “degree of resilience” and protection that Centres were able to offer – despite the best efforts, creativity and passion within Centres themselves – is being severely tested. The “undercurrent of danger” of service cuts and Centre closures previously identified in the 2013 Census is coming to the surface in a number of areas of the
country, and real impacts on children and families are beginning to flow. Yet, whilst maintaining levels of staffing and reaching the most vulnerable families are both seen in the 2014 Census as the biggest challenge for the year ahead by more than half of all Centres, the fact that half also say that their biggest challenge will be in being able to meet and match demand, confirms the crucial role and place of Children’s Centres’ in our communities.

The 2014 Census has identified a large number of Centres are already providing preventative and targeted work with partners to support families in crisis, on issues including domestic abuse, alcohol and substance abuse, mental health support, child protection and through the Troubled Families Programme. It has also found that this engagement with partners is growing, with around one-quarter expecting this to increase over the coming year, and expecting to decrease in only a handful of cases. The main areas where partnership working is expected to increase is with workers in health services, social care, and local delivery of the Troubled Families programme. Targeted support on domestic violence and child protection are also expected to increase. These shifts mirror the approach, a tried and tested model already working in a number of areas of the country, proposed by 4Children. Children’s Centres should be extended into Children and Family Community Hubs to bring together support and resources in the local area in a holistic and joined-up way, as part of a wider need to redesign services for children and families to deliver Early Intervention rather than wait until crisis. Children’s Centres are offering the “social glue” which provides support for over stretched social work staff, and there is real potential for Children’s Centres to extend their work more formally into the areas of social care and child protection, recognising the major shift of Children’s Centres from universal to targeted and complex support over recent years. Formalising the relationship would enable services to work together, with families as part of
a team, to deliver specialist interventions (including “step up” and “step down” support) from 0-19 years, as an expanded network of Children and Family Community Hubs pioneering a new approach to social care and enhance support.

And, crucially, they must remain a national priority for politicians of all political parties if we are to improve the lives of, and make Britain great for, all children and families in the years ahead.