Last month, Liverpool City Council put out plans for consultation to close ten of its 17 children’s centres in the wake of a 58 per cent cut to its Government funding.
However, this week the mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson announced he has secured an extral £1.5 million to keep the centres open.
It follows campaigning by parents to protect the at risk children’s centres from closure.
The campaign, ‘Save Liverpool Children’s Centres’, received the backing of television presenter Coleen Rooney and screenwriter Jimmy McGovern, who created the TV series Cracker.
Making the announcement, the mayor of Liverpool said, ‘Talks with partners have intensified over the last week or so, and we now have guarantees of an additional £1.5 million from our partners for the next three years.'
The partners funding the move are five organisations that include the NHS and Liverpool Housing Associations.
‘When combined with work to drive down accommodation costs and a contribution from our reserves and contingencies, we are now in a position where we are able to sustain the existing network of centres.’
The mayor is also setting up a task group to look at a sustainable model for the future of children’s centres by pooling funding from different parts of the public sector.
One option being considered is to work in partnership with the NHS to develop a network of ‘health and well-being centres’ to support children from birth to the age of 11.
As well as this, the mayor said he will continue to demand from this Government and the next, a ‘better, fairer funding settlement to protect services, including a commitment to ring-fence children’s centres.'
His call is being backed by parents, whose petition urging the Government to reconsider ‘disproportionate funding cuts to Liverpool City Council’, has received more than 5,400 signatures.