Barnet's early years review - finding a better way to support children under five and their families

We would like to thank the 1,160 residents who responded to this consultation, without whose valuable input the consultation would not have been possible. We also wish to thank those who took the time to attend the events for users of early years services and the 623 residents from the Citizens' Panel who also took part in the consultation.

You can give how we have acted on the results so far under 'We asked, You said, We did'.

Overview

We recognise the importance of the early years of a child’s development and the important role our services can play in supporting families to ensure that children have the best start in life.

For this reason over the last eighteen months we undertook a review of our early years services, including children’s centres, early years health services and early education. The aim of the review was to improve support to families with young children, with a focus on identifying and supporting the most vulnerable families in our community.

The review found that whilst there were many positives, including a dedicated and passionate workforce, our service model needed to be transformed to improve outcomes for families.

In response to the review we have developed a case for change and bold vision to improve Barnet’s early years services whilst also achieving savings in 2015/16.

This consultation document outlines our vision for early years and proposed changes to both improve our early years services, and make the required savings. It also includes proposed specific changes to opening hours at a number of children’s centres.

With help from children’s centre workers, health professionals and families we have developed the approach outlined in the attached consultation.

We now want to consult widely on our proposals to find out whether you agree with the approach and changes proposed. We recognise that parents and local communities know what services they need – therefore we need your input to make sure we get the detail right.

We will be taking all your views, ideas, opinions and feedback on board. These will be used to inform the full business case which will go to the Children’s, Education, Libraries and Safeguarding Committee on 28 October 2014. This is a change, from the initial date of 15 September 2014.

Delaying the Committee decision until 28 October 2014 gives the council further time to work through issues identified through the detailed design work and develop clear and informed recommendations to the CELS Committee.