Closing hundreds of Sure Start centres comes at a huge cost

If I were to pick my ‘greatest hits’ list in terms of achievements of the last Labour government, the introduction of Sure Start Children’s Centres would be right up there.  For those not familiar with what Sure Start actually does, these Children’s Centres go far beyond providing high quality early years childcare- they are at the heart of local communities across the country, and provide a life line for many new parents, with support for everything from breast feeding to post natal depression – and far more besides. Part of the beauty of these Children’s Centres is that they are accessible to all, and used by parents and children from a wide range of backgrounds.

But new figures published today by 4Children show that for the fourth year running under this government, this highly valued and invaluable resource is being ripped from local communities. Thousands of families face a future where the local Sure Start lifeline is no more.

In 2010, as the last general election loomed, I was working at a childcare charity. Maybe because Sure Start has always been regarded as such a flagship Labour Party policy, a lot of questions were asked of David Cameron about what the future for the Sure Start programme would look like under a Tory government. When one voter asked David Cameron to commit to the current funding, he gave his unreserved support, and accused Labour of scaremongering, saying “Yes, we back Sure Start. It’s a disgrace that Gordon Brown has been trying to frighten people about this. He’s the prime minister of this country but he’s been scaring people about something that really matters.”

However it was only a matter of months before the Coalition government took a decision which was the beginning of the end for Sure Start, as they removed the ring fence on Sure Start funding. This decision immediately made Sure Start vulnerable to cuts, as local councils, including many in the North saw their funding slashed and faced incredibly tough decisions.

In early 2011 I was involved in working on the first Sure Start census, surveying workers at children’s centres across the country to find out how the future of these centres worked. The results of that survey showed that 250 centres faced closure within a year. Within two years of the current government coming to power 400 centres had closed. Today, there are 628 fewer Children’s Centres than in 2010.

I’m proud that Labour run Leeds City Council have avoided closing any Children’s Centres, despite £300 million worth of funding cuts from the government. However with the scale of cuts being imposed on local authorities I know I’m not the only one worried about the long term future of these centres. Yesterday I was out on the doorstep in Elmet & Rothwell talking to a voter who told me of a friend of hers who works in a Sure Start Centre – in a low paid job she does out of her passion for working with children – who fears her job is at risk and who is spending large amounts of her time at work trying to devise cost savings their centre can make.

These centres and what they represent, in terms of both ensuring a more equal society and standing up for the most vulnerable illustrate so much of what is at stake next May. We need to expose the scandal that is the decimation of Sure Start Children’s Centres under David Cameron, and just like we have done with the NHS, set out a future for the Sure Start programme where investment is guaranteed and voters understand that only in a Labour government’s hands will the future of this be safe.

In 2011 I campaigned with grassroots groups of mums who were standing up against Sure Start cuts across the country. From Hampshire to Liverpool, Camden to Manchester, Wakefield to Lambeth tens of thousands of parents rallied against cuts being made as a result of the government failing to protect SureStart funding. On Mother’s Day 2011 we marched on Downing Street, and set up a make shift Sure Start Centre by those famous gates.

The parents I worked with were some of the most inspiring campaigners I’ve worked alongside, but there is one thing I will never forget – the words of a mother who suffered from acute post natal depression which was only picked up and then treated as a result of her attending her local Sure Start Centre. She said to me that without that centre, she feared she would not be here now.

Every time I hear or read about another centre closing down I recall that woman and fear for the huge potential human cost. No doubt the Tories would claim that’s Labour scaremongering again but we only have to look at the last four years to see why for me, it lives on as a very real fear.