Hours at Sandwell children's centres could be cut

Sandwell Council is to vary the contracts it has with providers at some of its children's centres to allow them 'flexibility' in opening hours.

This will follow a restructure of the service that will see one children's centre in each of the borough's seven town clusters being designated a 'core' facility where hours will not be affected.

Each of the remaining 13 centres will then be designated as 'satellite' or 'nursery plus', and it is at these facilities where hours could be cut. However, nursery plus centres will still have a service operating in some form until 6pm each day.

The announcement has been made by the children's services department at Sandwell Council following a three-month consultation with parents and centre operators over the summer.

A report on the move, which is expected to be rubber-stamped by the decision-making cabinet on Wednesday, states 376 responses were received from the public.

It states: "The local authority will work with the children's centre providers to keep parents informed of the change in order to reduce parents' anxieties.

"The proposal to reduce opening hours at some centres has resulted in the greatest level of disagreement from respondents. There was concern from local parents that services would be cut.

"Core centres would be unaffected by this proposal and nursery plus centres would still have nursery services operating until 6pm each day.

"It is proposed that there should be a variation to the existing children's centre contracts to give providers flexibility in opening hours of satellite centres, but that any reduction would be subject to agreement and review by the local children's centre cluster advisory boards, which include parental representation."

The centres provide activities for children aged under five and their families, and some bases have more recently provided some services for older children as well.

There are five centres in West Bromwich, four in the Cradley Heath/Rowley Regis area, four in Smethwick, three in Tipton, two in Oldbury and two in Wednesbury.

Following the consultation, no centres will close, and it is also proposed to make the best use of space, with suggestions being made by parents on that. Some of the suggested options are now being investigated by council officers.

Volunteers could also be utilised at some of the centres, and 'self-help' groups could be set up to help with their running. A total of £2.45 million needs to be saved from the children's centre budget over the next three years, with Councillor Simon Hackett previously blaming central government cuts.