Hundreds more jobs are to go at Manchester town hall as spending cuts force the closure of all council-run Sure Start services, nurseries and daycare.
Manchester council will lose almost all of its early years staff when it brings in changes to the way residents access childcare.
However, bosses have pledged to keep all day-care centres, which are fit for use, open for communities. The buildings would either be used as meeting and activity spaces for groups or rented to other providers.
The council will cease to directly provide day care for new borns to five years old following budget reductions and government grant cuts.
The changes, which will be phased in over four years, will affect the 11 per cent of families who use local authority daycare.
The council, which has already made some 1,600 staff redundant because of budget cuts, will now lose 390 of around 460 early-years posts as part of the plans.
They said they already had around 150 applications for voluntary redundancy on hold from within that workforce and did not expect there to be compulsory job losses.
The proposals are due to go before the council’s executive members tomorrow. A 90-day consultation will launch on October 3.
The changes involve the end of Sure Start provision in the city. The council announced in February that it would look for new organisations to take over the portfolio as part of £170m worth of savings.
But children’s services bosses – whose early years budget has been slashed from £29m to £22.1m – said analysis had shown that to be unaffordable and unworkable.
Under the shake-up, 60 outreach posts will be created and every family of a newborn will be visited at home by an outreach worker who will stay in touch until the child is three.
Parents will also receive a monthly Baby Express newsletter advising them on their child’s development and workers will identify those in need of greater support and work with NHS colleagues to help them.
Coun Afzal Khan, executive member for children’s services, said: “We believe that our early years proposals will enable us to use our reduced resources to the best effect, supporting those most in need to give them the best start in life.
“And we believe the emphasis on outreach will help us and our health sector partners to identify those most in need, and to start helping them and their parents earlier, even before birth in some cases, so they begin school ready to thrive.”
More than 50 buildings
currently being used for early years services are expected to remain within the community.
Manchester council will use the bulk of its remaining £7m budget for commissioning and from September 2012, the legally required 15 hours a week early education for three to four-year-olds will be delivered through the private, voluntary and independent sectors and schools.
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These sure start centres are more than just buildings with little in them. These places can save and help lives of under privelidged families. Families like mine where both parents work but cannot afford other luxuries. Don't shut the only place some families can go to for help!
My son went to a Childrens Centre, the previous incarnation for Sure Start Centres. He has complex learning difficulties and could not go to a private nursery and a childminder couldnt have coped with him> I had tried him in private nurseries but they couldnt cope or didnt have the qualifications to cope.
His attendance at the Centre helped me to continue my studies and then to go out to work. Without the centre I would have spent a minimum of 5 years on benefits, instead of 5 years working and paying taxes.
The loss of the Sure Start Centres is an appalling loss to communities and families.
As far as this government is concerned, if you havent got it, you aint gonna get it, the less you've got now the less youre gonna have in the future.
They couldnt really care less about the ordinary joe in the street and are blaming the so called cuts to bring everybody down further than they allready are, It happened in the 80's under Thatcher and it just shows how people have such short memories.
Please don't forget, whilest the budget limits have been set by central government, where the axe falls has been decided by the Council. They tested the water last April, with a number of early years staff being made redumdant & a shift in service provision. A few cried about the Levenshulme Baths and the odd Library & earnt a reprieve but the redundancies in early years went ahead with the blessing of the union (presumably in the hope that, that would be it!!!), be assured he who shouts loudest will keep their bit of the budget, you didn't shout loud enough!
what a joke this is. for the working class being hit yet again, these centers help people with difficultly and also with children, instead , of spending thousands on silly ice rinks and advertisement, also all those people who dont pay council tax and had the wiped clean, but for those for us with jobs and trying to better ourselfs, get knocked back. but hey keep all the mps that wasted thousands of pounds and probably still doin so.
Such a great shame, I was an NHS worker who used to work in partnership with these centres, their contribution was invaluable and made the workload of the Health Visiting Service more manageable. The communities really valued these centres and they provided some positive respite from what has been for many a very difficult few years. With these closures, we will see the inevitable increase in overstretched health and social workers "missing things" and some situations going badly wrong. These communities badly need the support of these fantastic centres and their staff.
What a great shame, the loss of any of these centres and their staff is not one that these communites can easily cope with. As an ex NHS worker who worked closely with these centres and utilised the services they provide - and indeed they provide many, I am astounded that the benefits of the services they have provided has not afforded them with a reprieve. These centres allow communities to have a place to meet others in similar circumstances, to find support when there is no support elsewhere and helps provide a stimulating environment for todays children, tomorrows society. The services they provide support health and social care enabling them to deliver their own stretched services in a target driven way to ensure the most needy recieve the support of appropriate agencies whilst those deemed less needy are still able to access a wealth of provision. Those provisions have been proven to increase motivation, self esteem etc - all which the government claim to want these communities to have, yet they take away these valuable centres. Its absolute madness. With the withdrawl of these services, health and social care will be faced with added pressures and the inevitable witch hunt when something goes wrong with one poor family. Of course at that time, local and national government will of course pass the buck......
when my girlfriend was pregnant with my young sons she had health checks at sure start,when they were both born they had development checks and imuniseations at sure start,when they registered there births,it was at sure start,they both attended sure start part time and they learned how to read and write at sure start,i got training advice and job advice in sure start and so did my partner..were both employed full time as a result of these centers and have been for 3 years now,unlike most parents we found being a parent difficult and we would hate to think where we would of been without the help of the staff..these are just some of the services sure start provides,where are people going to go now!!,when did anyone vote for this?
Childrens services take the vast majority of the council's budget....it was always going to take the biggest hit.Youth services went the same way as Sure Start last year,and were also handed over to "private groups" and voluntary sector agencies to run.....the only problem is,they've had all their funding slashed by government to!If you want to see the clue cuckoo land idea of "big society" in action,then this is it.....the government don't give a hoots about the people who need these services,as quite simply they don't live in Chelsea,work Canary Wharf or reside in the home counties-they want the privatisation of ALL public services so that they can wash their hands of their moral and financial responsibility towards the less well-off...dog eat dog and to he'll with those who can't "compete"...back to the days of "charitable individuals" taking pity on the poor...why people who voted for this sham alliance of Etonoian toffs ,upper class twits and Hampshire squires couldn't see all this coming is utterly beyond me.
sad times... Y take away something so vital to the community. and the goverment go on about how bad is the youth of today, well maybe these poor kids who are now out of a sure start placement will be just as bad... because there is no foundations for them... the govt. r just markin the poverished suffer more poverty and no hope by taking away everything these s communities need... adult education centres, libriaries, sure starts, uni fees .. etc.. we dont have a chance in hell to succed., with all these cuts...
What a shameful situation. Money being frittered all over the council - free taxis for the Chief Exec, trips to New Zealand for the Leader and as for Corporate Communications ??? Oh dear oh dear oh dear...