Re-purposing of children's centres consultation

Purpose of this consultation

Cheshire East Council, like councils across the country, have been experiencing unprecedented financial pressures and are required to put forward proposals showing how they could balance its budget over the next 4 years. The proposals form part of the Councils medium-term financial strategy (MTFS) for 2024 to 2028 which was approved at a meeting of Full Council in February 2024.  The Early Years Team (Start for Life) are required to contribute towards the reduction of the financial pressures (a savings  target of £250K) whilst having minimal impact on services. 

Since our bid for family hubs transformation funding in 2022 we have repurposed five of our former children’s centres into family hubs expanding services at these sites from an offer for children and families under 5 to a 0-19 offer and up to 25 for our young people with SEND. We are opening our sixth and final Family Hub in Crewe Lifestyle by September 2024. 

We are now looking to re-purpose up to seven of the remaining children's centre buildings and further develop our family hub outreach offer. Approval to start consultation was given during the 29th April Children's and Families Committee.

Please review the supporting material for the consultation here (PDF. 1.7mb) 

A final decision will be made at the Children's and Families Committee later in the year, the results of this consultation will form part of the evidence base. 

Submitting your comments

Please submit your consultation response by 13 September 2024 by completing this questionnaire. 

For any queries about this consultation, e.g. if you would like to receive this questionnaire in an alternative format or submit your response in a different way, please email the Research and Consultation Team CEConsultation@cheshireeast.gov.uk. If you do not have email access, please call Customer Services on 0300 123 55 00 who will send the response on your behalf.

Once the consultation closes we will analyse all responses, produce a summary report of them, and publish this online on our consultation results webpage.

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