Kent County Council Community Services Consultation

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to you today about the launch of the Kent County Council Community Services Consultation. During the last year we have been gathering and interrogating data that highlights the need for our services across the county and reviewing what that means for our service delivery.

The community services in scope are:

• Open Access Children’s Centres and Youth Hubs (as part of the DfE Family Hubs Transformation)
• Public Health as it relates to the Open Access Family Hubs Transformation
• Community Services for Adults with Learning Disabilities
• Community Learning and Skills (Adult Education)
• Gateways.

We are launching the public consultation on Tuesday 17 January 2023, and it will run until Sunday 26 March 2023.

As you are aware, pressure on public sector finances has increased significantly over the last twelve months. We need to ensure that we safeguard our services against rising costs. Assumptions that have underpinned our strategic approach over the last 10 years, such as low inflation, low interest rates and resilient supply chains, can no longer be taken for granted. We know the next few years are not going to be easy. However, the plans we are putting forward for consultation will help make sure we can deliver vital services to our residents that need them, whilst reducing the costs that we need to bear.

The scope of our proposals is significant, but it needs to be. The changes detailed within the consultation documents will result in a smaller, more manageable, and affordable number of buildings across Kent, supported by enhanced outreach and digital services. This will continue to help us deliver services for people in a variety of ways. We have not made significant changes to our estate for over 40 years, and we simply cannot afford to maintain so many buildings, some of them open to residents for limited hours each week.

We have been awarded Family Hubs Transformation status from the DfE, which means over the coming months we will be working closely with residents and partners to develop our service delivery for families, children, and young people. This is an exciting programme of work that will change the way we serve our communities, creating a more integrated service offer. The proposals are likely to be of interest to you as some of our buildings are in close proximity to school provision. Nursery provision is not a part of our proposals and as such we are not proposing any changes to Nurseries across the County, however in a very small number of cases there are some proposed changes to sites that Children’s Centre share with Nurseries. We will of course seek to discuss these with you in detail during the consultation process.

No decisions have been taken and we want to hear from residents and our partners over the course of the consultation. You may recall that the outline approach to this was set out at a Kent Leaders’ meeting and on the basis of that and officer conversations we are keen to discuss areas where we can collaborate. We are looking forward to continuing this conversation with you as we work together to serve our residents, strengthen our town centres, and ensure our whole communities are resilient.

The Programme Team will be in touch with your senior officer teams and will be offering to provide briefings on the specifics for your district once the consultation has launched. If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything with me then please do get in touch. However, I encourage you to read through the consultation material and submit a formal response.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Collins
Director of Integrated Children’s Service - North and West Kent (Early Help and Preventative Services Lead), Disabled Children and Disabled Young People’s Services