Council outlines detailed proposals for early years services
13 September 2011
Manchester City Council has outlined detailed proposals for how it will deliver early years services for children aged 0-5 and their families.
The proposals, contained in a report to be considered by the council's Executive on Wednesday 14 September, outline a more targeted approach which will focus on identifying and supporting the most vulnerable children, and their parents, to give them the best start in life while moving away from providing 'universal' services including daycare.
If approved by the Executive, the proposals will be the basis of a consultation running from 3 October 2011 to January 2012, with the Executive taking a final decision on 18 January 2012.
The proposed changes would not be immediate and would take place on a phased basis up to March 2015, to ensure everything is in place to allow them to work effectively.
Under the new early years proposals every family of a newborn will be visited at home by an outreach worker who will stay in touch until the child is three. Experts consider that the first three years of life are absolutely fundamental to a child's future development.
This new outreach approach builds on the success of a pilot scheme carried out in Ardwick, to ensure vulnerable families are identified and supported as soon as possible - before their needs escalate. This will ensure that services are delivered to the right families at the right time.
Councillor Afzal Khan, Executive Member for Children's Services, said: "We believe our early years proposals will enable us to use our reduced resources to the best effect, supporting those most in need to give them the best start in life. And we believe the emphasis on outreach will help us and our health sector partners to identify those most in need, and start helping them and their parents, earlier - even before birth in some cases - so they begin school ready to thrive.
"However developing these proposals has involved taking some challenging decisions in the context of the financial settlement from central government."
It is also proposed that the council will gradually withdraw from providing daycare on a phased basis, when and where suitable alternatives are available. Manchester City Council currently provides only 11 per cent of daycare places for 0-5 year olds in the city but there is evidence that non-council operators have plentiful spare places.
The package of support, including heavily subsidised places of over and above 15 hours per week for three to four year olds, was amongst the best in the country, but the council's budget position means that it can no longer afford to maintain this.
Instead, from 1 September 2012 it will provide the statutory requirement of 15 hours a week, to be delivered through the private, voluntary and independent sector, and schools, so all children in the city will continue to benefit from early years services.
Under the proposed new arrangements for targeting support at those most in need, some children would still receive 30 hours per week of free childcare and the council would continue to commission daycare for those children.
Considerable work has been carried out to examine the potential for private, voluntary and independent providers to take over the operation of daycare provision at Sure Start centres, but unfortunately after careful investigation and rigorous analysis this approach has proved unaffordable and unworkable.
However, all early years buildings which are fit for purpose will continue to benefit the neighbourhoods they are based in by providing hubs, open for longer hours, from which a range of community services can be delivered.
The need for changes to the delivery of council services was set out in an Executive report in February ahead of the 2011/12 budget being set and the proposals have been shaped by feedback from service users and analysis of available non-council provision.
