Sheerness and Margate children's centres could still close despite government funding
The county will receive more than £4 million, through family hubs and the Start for Life programme
Last updated 15th Jan 2025
A children's centre in Sheerness has told us that extra government funding may not be enough to keep them open.
Announced a few days ago, the county will receive £4,099,400 through family hubs and the Start for Life programme in order to help families access early years aid including pregnancy support, infant feeding advice and parenting classes.
The money is part is of a £126 million nationwide allocation.
It could secure the future of Seashells on the Isle of Sheppey and Milmeads in Margate - with their future currently in doubt to which Kevin McKenna, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey said: “I am absolutely delighted that families and children will be able to access early years support through this funding boost from the Government.
“This additional funding should be directed to Seashells Family Centre which has been threatened with closure.
“This will make such a huge difference for so many families in our community and I know that the impact will be felt for years to come.”
In July last year, the Kent County Council opened a consultation into the two children centre's - with one of the options being to close them down.
The decision was set to be made in December, however the outcome was postponed, with one of the reason being the Children's, Young People and Education cabinet committee wanted to wait and see what money would be made available by the government in 2025.
That has now happened and the decision on how the funding is allocated now sits with the KCC and Ian Townsend Blazier, from Seashells, is worried part of it won't be given to them.
He said: "The work we deliver here and the contract value we have is £214,000 and to hear their budget has had an additional £4,000,000 ploughed into it when we are asking for a very small fraction, from our perspective, it seems like a no brainer decision really to benefit all the local families and community.
"We reach more families and children than most of KCC's centres and the work we do is to try and make a difference for people, not just a little sticky plaster, but to put a long term solution in place and be there for them when they need the support.
"However, it's the decision of the cabinet and Sue is chair of that, so she will make that decision on what she believes is the best value for the KCC system and they may look to bring everything in house instead to support their consistency and support the savings they need to make, even though they would have extra money."
A spokesperson for Kent County Council said:“We are committed to providing Kent’s children with the best start in life and continued support as they grow. Following the government’s recent announcement of an additional £126m national funding boost for early years support, KCC has welcomed just over £4m as Kent’s share of this fund.
“As with all grant funding, this additional budget is subject to strict spending and delivery requirements. We are now awaiting confirmation of the full details of these from the Department for Education, but we know that the money must be used to fund the core delivery aspects of our Family Hubs and must all be used within the next financial year only.
“The final member decision on the proposal not to renew the current contracts for our two commissioned Family Hubs at Millmead in Margate, and Seashells on the Isle of Sheppey when they end in March, is due to be taken soon and this additional funding, as well as all feedback received, is being considered.”