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Memorandum submitted by Children England
1. Summary
Sure Start Children's Centres aim to embody the realisation of the five Every Child Matters outcomes in practice. Of particular concern to Children England is the ability of Sure Start Children's Centres to tackle deprivation in order to best support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged families. We are strongly of the view that to tackle deep-rooted cycles of deprivation the voluntary and community sector (VCS) must be key partners in the running and delivery of Sure Start Children's Centres. The expertise of the VCS in supporting the most vulnerable children, young people and families is well known and respected, and the evidence Children England have received is that in the majority of cases Sure Start Children's Centres have a good working relationship with crucial local VCS partners. This in many ways is to be expected where Children England members such as Action for Children and Barnardo's are running the Centres. In addition, the numerous positive responses we have received have stated that VCS organisations are engaged in running programmes and activities from the Centres - creating a genuine sense of Sure Start Centres as community hubs. Through these partnerships, Children's Centres are capable of targeting highly disadvantaged children and families and have developed strategies for meeting the needs of these families early on. It is vital that Children's Centres continue to be the one-stop shop for families, where services remain tailored to meet the varying needs of families and are built and sustained in partnership with parents and local communities.
The key points of our submission include:
· Different models of Children's Centres have different strengths. What is clear is that a 'one size fits all' approach is not a helpful way to plan services or design centres.
· Children's Centres need to continue to be explicit in their aims to tackle poverty and to engage with their communities to transform the lives of children and their families. · Services in Children's Centres need to continue to provide intensive, personalised family support based on long lasting relationships with trusted and experienced support staff.
· Partnership working is still often based on the good-will and trust between practitioners and managers at a local or Centre level rather than being founded on established protocols and a shared vision.
· Opening up Children's Centres to a range of providers to support the local community is imperative in meeting the wide-range of needs families have.
· Parents generally seem to like Sure Start as a brand and generally trust it - this should be taken forward and utilised as much as possible.
2. Children
2.1 Children
3. How models of Children's Centres have developed as the programme spreads from the most deprived neighbourhoods;
3.1 There is evidence to suggest that in some areas Phase 2 and 3 Children's Centres are often under funded and the integrated team model pursued by Sure Start local programmes (SSLP) is rare. Whilst it is acknowledged that a SSLP is not going to be established in every area, it is therefore important to ensure that staff and activities engage with those children and families that really require support.
3.2 Different models of Children's Centres have different strengths. The cluster model, whereby staff can be shared across a number of Children's Centres to get the widest range of skills possible, is recognized as a strong approach as is the revolving of programmes and staff across centres in a locality. A 'one size fits all' approach is not a helpful way to plan services.
3.3 Centres which have developed from existing
provision have additional strengths. For example Whitehaven Surestart
Children's Centre in
3.4 In addition to the work of Howgill in
3.5 Co-location of multi-agency staff is seen as a great strength of the Sure Start model. Where expertise and staff are shared there is a highly effective mechanism for early intervention in areas of high deprivation. The manager of the Rossington Children's Centre which is run by Action for Children informed us that parents and carers become familiar with seeing professionals working together and find it easy to access a range of services regardless of whom they approach in the first instance. In addition to this staff from other services gain a real understanding of the roles and remits of differing professionals reducing the incidence of duplication and assisting with the compilation of comprehensive plans to meet the needs of the most disadvantaged groups in a locality.
4. The range and effectiveness of services provided by Children's Centres;
4.1 The range and effectiveness of services varies significantly between Children's Centres. This may be to do with the size of the centres and the ability and or willingness of the services that work with families to work collaboratively.
4.2 Whilst Children England acknowledges that a 'one size fits all' approach to rolling out Children's Centres is not effective or strategic in the long term, there still needs to be deeper clarity and consistency regarding the services Children's Centres are expected to deliver. Evidence suggests that different levels and interpretations of family support clearly exist. In some areas Children's Centres are better equipped to deliver family support using experienced and qualified staff, in much the same way as some Children's Centres are better equipped and qualified to deliver health services. The core offer of service provision is necessary and sufficient, however in practice there are still significant gaps in health provision and job centre involvement in some Sure Start areas.
4.3 Children's Centres need to continue to be explicit in their aims to tackle poverty and to engage with their communities to transform the lives of children and their families, as well as improving the economic and social make up of an area. Furthermore, services in Children's Centres need to continue to provide intensive, personalised family support based on long lasting relationships with trusted and experienced support staff.
4.4 Effective planning around the needs of users is vital to ensuring the success of a Children's Centre. Personalised planning for individual parents and children, built around their specific circumstances and needs is essential, particularly around family difficulties or when parents need help in accessing work or training opportunities.
4.5 Action for Children has conducted research[1] on the effectiveness of services ranging from short-term time limited , intensive interventions, to long term support for families and children with more complex needs. The research included a case study of one Sure Start Children's Centre and showed that overall the service in the Centre represents good value for money and use resources to make a real difference to the outcomes for children and their families.
5. How well Children's Centres work with other partners and services, especially schools and health services;
5.1 There are obvious local differences in models of Children's Centres and their subsequent approaches to partnership working. Each Children's Centre is unique and responds according to local needs. It is recognised that some partners are easy to work with, whilst other can be deemed harder to reach. Effective Children's Centres work with a range of partners to maximise the reach and effectiveness of the programme and work with a multitude of partners in service delivery. However it takes time to plan and think through appropriate and tailored service provision for children and families - this can only be achieved by devoting adequate time to the process.
5.2 Partnership working is still often based on the good-will and trust between practitioners and managers at a local or Centre level rather than being founded on established protocols and a shared vision. This highlights that at a strategic level, service provision is not as effectively joined up or coordinated. In some cases relationships with local authority children's services have been strained, with lack of respect for the professional opinions of staff in Children's Centres or a lack of understanding about respective roles and expertise. Ensuring these local relationships are built and sustained with a respect for all partners is crucial in running a successful Sure Start Children's Centre which can give children the best and healthiest start in life.
5.3 Partnership work between schools and Children's Centres can reap real benefits for children. For example by providing them with a smoother transition from Children's Centre to school life. Holding regular joint activities between schools and Children's Centres, including planning meetings with Centre and school staff can also help to foster good partnership working. Currently Centres could do more to stimulate joint working practices with education partners. It may be the case that the focus on pre-school and early years is hampering potential links and collaboration with primary and secondary school age children and families.
5.4 Opening up Children's Centres to a range of
providers to support the local community is imperative in meeting the
wide-range of needs families have. There are many cases of good partnership working
leading to positive outcomes. For example DEAFLincs are using Children's
Centres throughout
5.5 The multi-agency approach to delivering services through Children's Centres could be further enhanced and strengthened. For example, ensuring that all key partners are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities around safeguarding. In most cases, further clarification is needed over the Children's Centre manager's overall responsibility for safeguarding in an integrated setting where s/he does not manage all staff and where the premises are used by other agencies.
6. Whether services are being accessed by those most in need and how effective they are for the most vulnerable.
6.1 The best Children's Centres are those which fully understand the communities they operate in. These are Centres where staff are aware that deprivation can cause families to lead chaotic lives, which makes receiving regular support and services problematic at times. An understanding of poverty and disadvantage among Children Centre staff is crucial. Training to provide skills and knowledge in this area should be included as part of the updated strategy for the children's workforce.
6.2 Children's Centres are a key part of community-based networks to support children and families with a wide range of needs, including those who require intensive support at particular pressure point times in their lives. Targeting the most vulnerable must continue to be a priority for all Children's Centres providers. Overall, services do seem to increasingly be accessed by those most in need and the continuing innovation in services and how they are delivered should support this trend. However, there is still much space to improve take-up amongst these vulnerable groups.
6.3 There is evidence to suggest that varying lead agencies can have a different take on the role of Sure Start Centres which may either encourage or discourage take-up. For example some Children's Centres, hold onto the Sure Start local programme ideals of universal services and early intervention services only. Whereas other Children's Centres locally, notably former family centres adopt a more targeted approach working with families across the whole spectrum of need. This may be due in part to mixed messages from central government.
6.4 It is the responsibility of staff within Children's Centres being supported by local managers and strategic leads to ensure that services are being accessed by those most in need and most vulnerable in communities. The quality of staff approach and interaction with parents is critical in determining the willingness of families to engage. As part of this, there must be no time limits on services if they are to be effective as some families may need ongoing support over significant periods of time.
6.5 Children's Centres are continually learning about different and better ways of including harder to reach families. One advantage is that parents generally seem to like Sure Start as a brand and generally trust it - this should be taken forward and utilised as much as possible.
6.6 The Sure Start Children's Centre model is excellent and effective providing there is clear understanding of the agenda, the guidance is followed, and there is strong and competent leadership. This particularly means well thought out strategies for outreach and inclusion so that those who have most need and are face difficulties in attending are enabled to do so. One method of providing this level of support and keeping clients engaged has been the outreach home visiting based model.
6.7 Children's Centres need to capture detailed information about their clients, both at the point of first contact and at subsequent intervals. This information gathering and data analysis of need has improved over the years. Only by this can they demonstrate both that they are engaging the most 'difficult to include' and offering them services of value. Children's Centres across the country need to ensure that they have sufficient baseline information about their clientele on which they can fully plan, deliver and evaluate their services.
6.8 As the Children's Centre model continues to evolve, developments should prioritise ensuring the delivery of targeted support through universal settings and extending the range of people whom Children's Centre services are available. For example, offering facilities for 0-19 years would provide a more holistic offer for families with older siblings.
7. Other points
7.1 It is important that Children's Centres operating in the voluntary sector are able to get their voices heard by both central and local government and make a meaningful contribution to the design, implementation and evaluation of the Government's activities both locally and nationally. This is crucial as national policy, as in the case of improving the outcomes for children in deprived areas, often relies heavily on local implementation and effective partnership working.
7.2 Children's Centres play a crucial role in supporting children, young people and families living in deprived areas. Many of our member organisations are small, localised bodies facing continuous cuts in funding and the threat of closure[2]. The Government and local authorities need to recognise that with the loss of each organisation working with disadvantaged families, more children and young people are at risk of living in continually deprived areas. The Government and local authorities need to ensure that through robust commissioning procedures, these Centres that provide vital support to children, young people and families, are sustained through long‐term funding mechanisms and are fully included in local strategic partnership arrangements to effectively influence decision‐making at a local level.
7.3 A major challenge for the Government will be to ensure that the current economic downturn does not impede commitment and investment in working towards rolling out the planned 3,500 Children's Centres by 2010. Government support and engagement with the voluntary sector will be more crucial than ever before and it is fundamental that in times of recession investment in preventative and early intervention services provided by the voluntary sector are not substantially reduced or overlooked.
October 2009 [1] Synergy Research and Consulting Limited (2009) Evaluating the delivery by Action for Children of targeted family support. [2] A recent survey of small children's organisations conducted by Children England found that 2 in 5 small organisations are facing threat of closure. See
Children of small voluntary and community sector organisations working with children, young people andfamilies www.childrenengland.org.uk
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