ALTON’S Bushy Leaze Children and Families Centre could change beyond all recognition as Hampshire County Council seeks to cut costs by developing it into a single, integrated family support service covering the whole of East Hampshire.

This new model, according to a county council spokesman, would “better meet the needs of vulnerable families with children aged up to 19 (extending to 25 if the young person has learning difficulties or a disability)” while improving access to a range of other services, including the child and adolescent mental health service, and a range of public health and other support services.

But, critics argue, it will mean the loss of the Bushy Leaze that has, over the past 20 years, become a haven for parents with babies and toddlers seeking vital early years support and the culling of staff who provide a lifeline for many struggling to rise to the challenge of parenthood.

At present, Hampshire County Council is in the middle of a 10-week public consultation into proposals for developing this new model, which is due to end at noon on May 3.

With pressure to meet a funding shortfall of £98m by April 2017, Hampshire County Council has decreed that of this £21.5m must be met from the Children’s Services budget. It is proposed that £8.5m of savings could be delivered by combining children’s centre services early help hubs and the youth support services to form a single family support service, working out of fewer buildings and with a streamlined management and operating structure.

Current staffing levels (300 employees across Hampshire) are expected to reduce overall by up to 60 per cent, with effect from early 2017.

Launching the Shaping Hampshire consultation is Keith Mans, the county council’s deputy leader and executive lead member for children’s services, who explained that during a similar public consultation in 2015 people had said that services for children, particularly the vulnerable, were among those they wanted the authority to continue to deliver.

“With public sector budgets continuing to be reduced by central Government, it is therefore vital that we make sure the available resources we do have in Hampshire are focused on those who have high levels of need of our help, care and protection,” said Mr Mans.

“The proposal to form a single, joined-up family support service would involve reshaping how early help support for families is delivered in the longer term to ensure that those who do not meet the threshold for statutory social care continue to receive the support they need in the future,” he added.

The aim of the proposed integrated family support service would be to target help specifically to vulnerable families with children who have multiple needs, often requiring the involvement of more than one agency. Tailor-made support would be provided at a local level, in order to respond to the needs of local families. With one point of contact, families would no longer need to go to different agencies, as is currently the case.

If the decision is taken to go ahead with this proposal, the main difference would be seen in children’s centre services, such as those provided at Bushy Leaze, where activities that are currently available would no longer be open to all families for free.

Instead, they would incur a charge of up to £9 per session, and they may be delivered from family support service hubs or other outreach venues.

Current service users, who value the “personal touch’ provided by staff at Bushy Leaze, fear that while families can currently drop in for a chat when they need help, in future things will be more formal, which could see those with problems “falling through the net”.

With hundreds more houses in the pipeline for Alton, one young mum said: “We, as a community, are stretched enough as it is. Our schools are full to bursting, GP surgeries too, and now the heart of Bushy Leaze is being cut out. We cannot let this happen. We cannot allow them to take away another thing we hold dear. We must speak up!”

There are currently 54 designated children’s centres and 75 venues from which children’s centres services are delivered across Hampshire, and the intention is to reduce the number to just 11 – one for each district and located where families have high levels of need.

In East Hampshire, there are currently three children and families’ centres and the proposal is to close Chase at Bordon and Heath at Petersfield, or to make them available for alternative community use, leaving Bushy Leaze in Alton to provide the family support service hub for the district. By rationalising the number of buildings in direct use, the county council could save up to £1m.

For details of the proposals and to take part in an online consultation, visit hants.gov.uk/childrens-services-consultation, or for a paper copy e-mail [email protected] or call 0300 555 1384.

n There will be a public drop-in session at Alton Community Centre on Wednesday, April 20, from 9.30am-11.30am, where members of the county council’s Children’s Services department will be on hand to answer questions about the proposals.