A Cumbrian man spearheading an overhaul of children’s services in England has told a leading conference that Sure Start Centres are key to helping improve youngsters’ life chances.
Josh MacAlister, of Greystoke, was the keynote speaker at the National Family Hubs conference today in London.
Sure Start Centres were created by the Labour government in 1999, to deliver services and support to young children and their families. In 2010, there were 3,600 centres nationally but up to 1,000 have closed, with others having their budgets slashed and services reduced.
At its peak, Sure Start reduced child hospitalisations by 13,000 and reduce health inequalities, Josh said.
He added: “The savings from reduced hospitalisations up to age 15 offset around a third of the cost of the Sure Start programme – and that’s before considering any potential benefits in education, social care or crime.”
Josh led the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which is informing the root-and-branch overhaul of the system across the country.
His review was undertaken from Cumbria and was informed by the lived experience of families and workers in children’s services, recommending a more effective way forward with early intervention becoming the focus.
Over the next two years, a new Children’s Social Care Implementation Strategy will transform the current care system to focus on more early support for families, reducing the need for a crisis response at a later stage.
Formerly a teacher, he is also the executive chair of What Works Centre, which seeks to improve the lives of children and families through setting standards in research and generating the best evidence into what works in children’s social care.
He said: “The message from the review is that there needs to be a shift in spending and activity and there is a need for a simpler, more intensive form of help for struggling families.
“We need a long term and cross-party commitment to expand family hubs or build back Sure Start given what we know about the long term and positive impacts for
children.
“But this is not to say that we should retread the same path as the noughties. A long-term commitment to building back children’s centres needs to come with a higher level of rigour and a focus on evidence over a number of features.”
