Thame’s childrens’ centre under threat

FOLLOWING the news today that Oxfordshire County Council is considering closing some Childrens’ Homes in the county to save money, Thame’s county councillor, Nick Carter, has assured Thame.Net that any closures will not include the new Assessment Centre, currently being build on the outskirts of Thame, as it is being built in order to save the huge cost of placing ‘looked after’ children in facilities outside the county.

 Cllr Carter was not, however, able to say that Thame’s Red Kite Childrens’ Centre, will escape closure, and issued the following statement:

Cllr Nick Carter

“The County Council has 44 children’s centres, including the Red Kite centre in Thame. These have been in existence for about ten years, and because of big cuts in funding, we have to start looking for different ways of running them or of providing an equivalent service.

“The County Cabinet is looking at how to deliver these services, and next week it will decide whether to accept the principle that changes could be made. If so, the options will be worked out and everyone will be able to consider them during a thorough consultation in the autumn.

“The County Council provides about 85% of everyone’s services in Oxfordshire, and a large part of the funds for this come from the Government. However, the national finances are still in deficit and more cuts are inevitable.

“Since 2010 when the deficit reduction began, the County Council has achieved £200 million of savings. This has had a massive impact on how services are delivered, but so far, we have managed to avoid affecting aspects such as children’s centres. But those savings are nowhere near finished yet. By 2018, we know that total savings have to reach £290 million. And now, on top of all this, there’s likely to be about £60m more to add to that total.

“This will be a huge challenge, particularly with the increasing pressure on both adult and children’s social care – currently around 50% of the County Council’s budget is spent on just 2% of Oxfordshire’s population. We can no longer avoid the fact that more than £6m has to be saved from what is known as the early intervention service, which includes children’s centres.

“What happens after this will start to become apparent next month. The Government Budget on July 8, along with the spending review later in the autumn, will provide more details about the impact of further cuts in funding.”