20 Children's centres to be privatised in jobs bid

Twenty SureStart centres across the region are to be privatised in a bid to safeguard 138 jobs and keep the "lifeline" service open to families.

Sandwell Council is looking to transfer all of its children's centres following a series of cash cuts from the Government.

Charity Daycare Trust has already warned that up to 86 per cent of centres nationally face budget cuts and 250 may close.

Sandwell says its move will guarantee all 20 facilities remain open despite the "draconian" slashes in funding.

Council chiefs in Cannock and Stafford have already ruled out closures despite the news 14 of their centres are to get a 10 per cent funding reduction.

Councillor Bob Badham, Sandwell's children's and families chief, will decide on the new private agency to run the centres at a behind-closed-doors meeting next Wednesday.

He said: "We've decided how we're going to save all our centres in Sandwell.

Unique

"We've put the contracts out to tender and now we've received the bids for those centres and a meeting behind closed doors will now consider whether to approve the bids.

"We're particularly unique nationally in that we're keeping all of our centres open.

"It's great because of their attachments to schools and communities.

"It means people have a place to go to discuss family issues near their homes.

"We were determined to protect them from the start."

Under changes, 95 council staff and 43 school staff will have their contracts transferred to the new lead agency for their centres.

Advantages of the move include extending the age range of the people using the centre from 0 to five to 0 to 19 years.

The children's centres in Sandwell are currently funded by the Early Intervention Grant from Government, which amounts to £18.87 million in 2012/13.

Whitehall has however refused to guarantee any grant money beyond that point.

Cuts of £3m in the Early Intervention Grant were announced in February last year.