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Children’s Centre services in Somerset are changing. 

This site is for staff, partners and providers of Children’s Centre services in Somerset.  It is the place to find up to date information about what change is being proposed, when it will happen and how you can get involved.  Use the buttons at the top of this page to find your way around.  The site is updated regularly, so remember to check back to get the most up to date information.

Update 08.05.14 Update on Children’s Centres

At the end of last month, Cabinet Member Frances Nicholson took a key decision about the future arrangements for the management and designation of 15 Children’s Centres. This follows the Have Your Say meetings carried out at all the centres which gave people the chance to discuss the proposals for the services based at them.

The decision confirmed that Children’s Centre Services will continue through a range of venues including the current Children’s Centre buildings. The one exception being the Jigsaw Children’s Centre at Barwick and Stoford where a local pre-school will have sole use of the site - though services will continue to be provided as they are now across the Barwick and Stoford reach area.  Family Support Workers will continue to have close links with the pre-school as they do now.

The decision was also to de-designate all the centres apart from Bishops Lydeard and Eastover. 

Please remember, de-designation only means that a centre no longer has to provide its own detailed records and activities or detailed improvement plans. Services provided by the centre are still recorded and inspected by Ofsted but as part of a wider area inspection.

In Bishops Lydeard discussions continue with the management committee of the Village Hall about a proposed amendment to the lease that would see the centre no longer registered.   In Eastover the centre will merge with Sydenham.

Have Your Say meetings are being held in the coming weeks in Castle Cary and Creech St Michael.

For The Mill Children’s Centre in Chilcompton we are undertaking a nine-week consultation which started on 16 April. We’re consulting here because proposals include options for The Mill Nursery to use more of the Children’s Centre to meet the local demand for child care. This could involve some of the services currently provided in the centre taking place elsewhere in the community.

I’m happy to say that we are in the final stages of this work. It’s taken a lot of effort from a lot of people and my thanks go to everyone involved.

Update 14.02.14 Children’s Centres Giving people their say

Eighteen  centres were originally highlighted for change and we are committed to giving people a chance to share their views before making decisions about these individual centres.

How we approach this needs to be appropriate and proportionate to any proposed change.

Please note: There will be no proposals to close Children’s Centres. Services will continue to be provided in the communities where they are found now, through the current Children’s Centre buildings and other suitable venues.

We have now been able to speak to most of the relevant interested parties, notably schools, about different ways of doing things.

For at least eleven of the centres, our proposals mean effectively no change to the services available. In fact, the most likely change is that there will be some additional services made available as we develop our Early Help offer.

In these cases we are holding two drop-in meetings at or near the centres to talk this through, and importantly ask what extra help and support people think is needed in their community.

This is the approach being taken for the following centres: Street, The Octopus (Burnham-on-Sea), Woolavington, Eastover (Bridgwater), The Levels (Langport), Jigsaw (Yeovil), Dulverton, Nether Stowey, Ashlands (Crewkerne), Wells and Fledglings (Taunton).

By the end of February we will have held these drop-ins in eight of these centres and will have spoken to at least eleven to get this moving.

Proposals for the remaining seven centres will become clearer over the next couple of weeks. There will be appropriate opportunities for people to comment on these proposals. Any necessary consultations will begin in March and details will be publicised.

Please remember there will be no proposals to close Children’s Centres. Services will continue to be provided in the communities where they are found now, through the current Children’s Centre building and other suitable venues.

Update:  31.01.2014

Please note that the current staff consultation has been extended as a result of the transfer of PVI staff to SCC with effect from 1st March 2014. 

Thank you to everyone who has sent back a consultation pro forma, the feedback has been reviewed and responses are included in the attached document.  If you haven’t been able to complete a pro forma yet but wish to do so please follow the link below:

http://change.somerset.gov.uk/childrenscentres/home/questions/staff-feedback/

Update on Local Consultation (buildings)

Work has been progressing to develop the timescales for starting the local area consultations.  Proposals are being drawn up for each centre which will be shared with Staff, Advisory Board members, Parents, Service Users and interested parties.  This will be followed up by drop in sessions at each centre and an opportunity for people to feedback any concerns.  The first of these consultations will begin late February and we will be able to confirm the timescales to you shortly.

Update on Contracts with PVI organisations  

As you are aware some of Somerset County Council’s (SCC) Children’s Centre Services are provided by the following private, voluntary and independent (PVI) organisations:

• Brookside Academy – Street and Glastonbury Children’s Centres (Glastonbury – staff are SCC employees)

• The Children’s Society – Wiveliscombe and Bishops Lydeard Children’s Centres (some staff are SCC employees)

• Action for Children – Chard, The Levels (Langport – staff are SCC employees), Ile Valley (Ilminster), Little Marsh (Ilchester) and Ashlands (Crewkerne) Children’s Centres

• Barnardo’s - Brock House (Norton Fitzwarren) and Fledglings (Bishop Henderson School, Taunton) Children’s Centres

Contracts with these organisations are due to finish at the end of March and the County Council will be taking on the provision of these services, providing the same services as now for the time being – the Council will carry out appropriate local consultation if any changes to these Children’s Centre Services are proposed as part of its restructuring of the service into five areas.

Staff currently working for the organisations who meet the TUPE criteria will have the opportunity to transfer to the Council, except where they are already County Council staff.

There is still work to do to confirm the timescales for transferring staff (approximately 32 members of staff are involved) to the Council under TUPE arrangements and we will keep you updated.  Consultation with these staff about the transfer has begun.

The Council and each of the providers are working closely to make sure this all happens smoothly without any disruption to the services for parents and families.  They have been asked to continue to accept referrals and to plan their summer programme as they are now.

To confirm – the services currently provided at these centres will continue. The only change is that they will be managed by the Council rather than these other organisations.

Update 17.1.14

Local Area Consultations

At the end of November Cabinet Member Frances Nicholson confirmed the move to a five-area structure for Children’s Centre Services, with the grouping together of management and administration, and more focus on front-line support.

She also said the Council would give people more chance to have a say before decisions are taken about individual centres, with appropriate local consultations on all proposed changes.

We are currently developing proposals that we can seek people’s views on. This takes time as it involves gathering much information and having discussions with schools, care providers and other interested parties.

We will carry out those consultations with people who use Children Centres Services and any other interested individuals and organisations.

There will be individual local consultations focussed on the 18 Children’s Centres that were originally proposed for change: Nether Stowey, Cheddar (The Valley), Burnham (Octopus), Woolavington, Eastover, Creech St Michael (Villages), Trull & South Taunton (Fledglings), Dulverton, Bishops Lydeard, Wiveliscombe, Barwick & Stoford (Jigsaw), Crewkerne (Ashlands), Ilminster (Ile Valley), Langport (The Levels), Castle Cary, Chilcompton, Street and Wells. Further consultation will take place if necessary.

These will not be consultations about stopping Children’s Centre Services - every community that currently has Children’s Centre activities will continue to have them. The consultations will be about the best ways of providing these in the future in that local community.

It is our aim to start before the end of February and we expect the consultations to include drop-in sessions and open meetings. Many of you will be keen to know more and we will let you know when we have details about how and when people can have their say.

Restructuring

With the local area consultations still to take place, we recognise that the full staffing restructure needed to move to the five-area model will not be possible by 1 April 2014.

We do not have the finalised dates yet but we will let you know as soon as possible. In the meantime it is business as usual and staff have been asked to continue to plan their summer programmes and accept referrals as now.

Update 23.12.13

The staff consultation is still in progress if you have not already returned a consultation pro forma but would like to do so there is still time please either email Sue Hay at the following address Shay@somerset.gov.uk or send your form by post to Sue Hay, Change Officer, Business Change, Somerset County Council, PP-B2E8, County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY.  All returned forms are reviewed by Vicky and the project team and we will feedback to you after each batch has been reviewed.

Update 28.11.2013

Please click here for the latest update on the proposed restructure of Children’s Centre Services.

Why change?

Following a review of Children's Centre services in early 2012, a Children's Centres Service Review was set up to look at ways to improve service delivery, value for money and find ways to reach more children and families in need of intervention or further support.  That Service Review has grown and is now known as the Children's Centres Programme of Change, to reflect the wider scale and scope of the work involved.

It has also been proposed by Somerset County Council (SCC) that we make significant financial savings from the SCC Children’s Centre budget during the 2014/15 financial year.  This means we need to investigate now how Children's Centre services will be delivered differently in the future.