Soft Market Test : Provision of Children's Centres / Child and Family Centre Services in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire

Currently Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council deliver a range of services to children and young people through 4 Children's Centre hubs and several linked sites in Peterborough, and 10 Child and Family Centres, as well as a number of Child and Family zones (facilities where there is shared building use), in Cambridgeshire. In Peterborough all the services are delivered by external partners, and In Cambridgeshire all centres are managed "in house" with the exception of South Fenland (March, Chatteris and Whittlesey), where services are delivered by an external partner. It is the externally provided services that is the focus of this soft market testing.

The core purpose of children's centres is to improve outcomes for young children and their families and reduce inequalities between families in greatest need and their peers in child development and school readiness, parenting aspirations and parenting skills, and child and family health and life chances. In seeking to improve outcomes the facilities in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire offer a range of groups, activities and one to one support. The activity varies across areas based on local needs and available resources and includes a range of services including activities such as messy play, stay and play, targeted family support and parenting programmes. The centres also provide a base for Health Child Programme delivery (eg breastfeeding support, and health visitor clinics) and midwifery services.

These services have served the needs of people well for a number of years, but with the demand on services increasing every year and the resources available being squeezed, Local Authorities need to think more creatively when designing these services in order to be able to meet the demand for services in the future. The Council's are developing a Best Start in Life Strategy and looking through this at innovative ways to deliver services. The work in the children's centres and child and family centres will need to align with this work moving forward. The Council's are developing a Best Start in Life Strategy and looking through this at innovative ways to deliver services. The work in the children's centres and child and family centres will need to align with this work moving forward.

The Council's have been operating Children's Centres services for many years and have worked with providers to continually innovate to deliver best value. The Council's need to understand if there are innovative and new ways of operating Children's Centres, given the growing demand for services. The Council needs the new service to be in place during 2020.