Children's Centres renamed and restructured in preparation for key role

Early Support Centres to play pivotal role in service delivery

6 February 2012

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Children’s Centres have been renamed Early Support Centres in preparation for the pivotal role they will play in the delivery of local public services.

Unlike many other local authorities Cheshire West and Chester Council opted to protect all 20 centres to maintain accessible, high quality early years provision, health and family support, and information services for families.

The centres bring together family support workers, health visitors, midwives, speech and language professionals, as well as offering activities for children and families to get involved in.

Over time all locally commissioned services, school based support services and family support services will be aligned and, where possible, co-located to create integrated early help and support for children and their families – especially the most vulnerable.

In response to Government priorities and the need to deliver quality services to the most vulnerable children in a cost effective manner, the Children’s Centres have been rebadged Early Support Centres and redesigned.

In future eight hubs (main, larger centres), will each support one or two delivery spokes (smaller centres).

The aim is to target resources at the most vulnerable and provide the capacity to swiftly reshape service delivery in response to emerging needs, against a background of fewer centre managers and business support staff.

As a result there will be a range of services available at spoke centres, which will be supported by additional services on offer at the relevant hub. Each centre will be able to signpost families to the best place for them to access the services that they need within their particular hub footprint.

For some of the smaller centres, this means that there will be non-service delivery days when services can be accessed at the hub centre but not the spoke.

These are transitional arrangements. Work is in progress to strengthen the family support service, which would allow staff to be deployed at the points of most need and according to skills and knowledge to achieve an effective early intervention, prevention and family support offer.

Councillor Mark Stocks, Cheshire West and Chester Council’s portfolio holder for Children and Young People’s Services, said: “Our Early Support Centres are a real success story. They show how partners within the public sector can work together to provide effective, accessible, joined-up services to families who most need our support.

“The recent changes will not affect service delivery. People will be able to access the hub centres five days-a-week and all of the usual services offered at spoke centres will remain untouched but might simply be rescheduled to a different day.

“If you live near a ‘spoke’ centre, you can phone or visit your ‘hub’ centre on a non-service delivery day and all of the professionals that you need will be on hand.”

Val Elliot is a regular visitor to Stanlaw Abbey Early Support Centre with her son Jake. “I think that the centre is a value to the community. It helps Jake to socialise with other children and for us to both mix with a range of different people.”

Catherine Taylor added: “My daughter Lilly and I both enjoy coming to the centre to try all the different activities which are available.”

Hub and spoke Early Support Centres:

Hub	Spoke
Stanlaw Abbey Mon-Thu, 8.30 – 17.00 Fri, 8.30 – 16.30 (Childcare available Mon-Fri, 08.00-18.00)	Neston Mon 09.00 – 13.00 Tue 09.00 – 13.00 Wed 09.00 – 13.00 Thu 13.00 – 17.00
Portside Mon-Thu, 8.30 – 17.00 Fri, 8.30 – 16.30 (Childcare available Mon-Fri, 08.00-18.00)	Parklands Mon 08.30 – 16.30 Tue 08.30 – 16.30 Thu 08.30 – 16.30 Woodlands Wed 08.30 – 16.30 Fri 08.30 – 16.00
Blacon Mon-Thu, 8.30 – 17.00 Fri, 8.30 – 16.30 (Childcare available Mon-Fri, 08.00-18.00)	Chester Victoria Mon 08.30 – 16.30 Wed 08.30 – 16.30 Thu  08.30 – 16.30
Lache Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri 9.00 – 16.30	Cherry Grove Mon 08.30 – 12.00 Tue 08.30 – 16.00 Thu 08.30 – 16.00 Fri 08.30 – 13.00 Kingsway and Upton Tue 08.30 – 16.30 Thu 08.30 – 16.30 Fri 09.00 – 16.00
Victoria Road Mon-Fri, 8.45 – 16.45  Leftwich Wed 08.45 – 16.45 Thu 08.45 – 16.45 Fri 08.45 – 16.15	Leftwich Wed 08.45 – 16.45 Thu 08.45 – 16.45 Fri 08.45 – 16.15 Hartford Mon 08.45 – 16.45 Tue 08.45 – 16.45 Thu 08.45 – 16.30
Over Mon-Thu, 9.00 – 17.00 Fri, 9.00 – 16.30 (Childcare available Mon-Fri, 08.00-18.00)	Wharton Mon 09.00-17.00 Tue 09.00-17.00 Wed 09.00-14.00 Thu 09.00-14.00 Fri 09.00-16.30 (Childcare available Mon-Fri, 08.00-18.00) Greenfields Mon 09.00 – 13.15 Tue 09.00 – 17.00 Wed 09.00 – 13.15 Thu 09.00 – 17.00
Malpas, Farndon and Tarvin Mon 08.30 – 16.30 Wed 12.30 – 16.30 Thu 08.30 – 16.30	Chester Rural (Elton) Tue 08.30 – 16.30 Wed 08.30 – 12.00 Thu 08.30 – 16.30
	Frodsham Wed 08.30 – 16.00 Thu 08.30 – 16.00 Fri 08.30 – 16.00 Barnton and Weaverham Mon 09.00 – 17.00 Tue 09.00 – 17.00 Wed 09.00 – 17.00