Council change of heart over Haringey Children's Centre cuts

Responding to feedback from parents, and schools and children's centre staff, Cabinet Member for Children, Cllr Lorna Reith, today confirmed that money was available to cover the accommodation costs of continued health services at Highgate, Northbank and Rokesley Children's Centres.

At a specially convened public meeting, Cllr Reith also pledged a limited amount of money on a one-off basis to enable the three centres to develop alternative business models so services such as baby yoga, Dads' club and "stay and play" can continue on a paid-for self-sustaining basis.

The new approach comes after the meeting of the council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 8 June at which the Cabinet Member's decision regarding the future of Children's Centres was called-in for further consideration.

In line with the original decision made on 18 May about the future delivery of Children's Centres, direct funding to the Tower Gardens link site will not be granted. However, a range of services for families in the Tower Gardens area will be available from Rowland Hill Children's Centre, also in the White Hart Lane ward.

Cllr Reith said that the issues raised at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting were pertinent and warranted further work by the council. She said:

"I'm grateful to the Committee and to all those who attended and contributed to the meeting. It's clear that Children's Centres are highly valued and everyone involved, parents, governors, heads, staff and council members all share a common desire to build on the good work done to date.

"By providing money to cover the accommodation costs of health services at Highgate, Northbank and Rokesley Children¹s Centres we will ensure that important universal services like health visitors can continue. This will also assist in identifying vulnerable families which was an issue
consistently raised in responses to the consultation and at the Committee meeting.

"The one-off payment to the three centres is not intended to fill any gaps; it's there to help the people who have publicly indicated that they are committed to developing alternative funding models for their centres. Feedback from the consultation indicated that there are parents willing
and able to pay for services so this needs to be looked at more. Funding is withdrawn at the end of August so these centres need to have their plans in place by then. I hope they can support and learn from each other during the coming months."

Since the Overview and Scrutiny Committee heard the call-in, a meeting has taken place with representatives from the Haringey Children's Centre Alliance which includes head teachers, governors and Children's Centre managers. One outcome of that meeting is a freeze on the proposed organisational and staffing model.

Cllr Reith agreed further work was needed to address valid concerns raised by the Alliance but that the consultation already under way with Children's Centre staff had to continue. She said:

"I have reviewed the proposals contained in the Cabinet report relating to the structure, management and governance of our Children's Centres and I do not propose to proceed with the model at this point.

"Council officers are working with the Haringey Children's Centre Alliance on developing an alternative model and it would be premature of me to set out now how this might work. I'm also mindful that we are in the middle of staff consultation and this must be allowed to complete its
course as it's important that the views of Children's Centre staff are fully taken into account."

Cllr Reith will present a new report on the future delivery of Children's Centres to Cabinet in due course, once consultation with staff has concluded and the development work being done by the council with Highgate, Northbank and Rokesley Children's Centres has been completed.