THE nine children’s centres in York are set to stay open, despite Government funding being slashed.

City of York Council next week decide how the future of the facilities will be shaped as it looks to save more than £1.6 million from its budget for children and young people’s services.

Officers have recommended retaining all nine centres – which provide support for children under five and their families – with a “streamlined” approach involving fewer management and support posts, although this would leave the authority short of its savings target in the current financial year.

The other options, which will be discussed next week at a decision session for Coun Ruth Potter, the council’s cabinet member for education, children and young people’s services, are to reduce support staff levels further or to close one or more of the centres.

A Government grant which was previously reserved for the centres is now no longer ring-fenced, and a report by Jill Hodges, the council’s assistant director for education, said this had “added to the challenge”.

However, it added that savings were being made through not filling vacancies, cutting “operational costs” and a restructure of the service.

The nine centres are based at Hob Moor, Westfield, Ostman Road, Kingsway North, Trafalgar Street, New Earswick, Haxby Road, Sixth Avenue and Heslington Road.

“The main advantage (of keeping all the centres open) is that it protects front-line delivery to children, families and settings,” said the report.

“It has fewer management and support posts than the current structure, but there is sufficient of both to enable front-line staff to focus on their work as practitioners and not get immersed in administrative or other tasks.

“It is a more streamlined overall service, but one which can actually deliver, albeit in a more targeted way than previously.”

Choosing the preferred option would mean £85,000 more in savings would need to be found, but the report said cutting support staff further would affect the running of the centres, and closing one of the facilities would hit families and children in part of the city.

If all the centres stay open, officers have said they will look at ways of bridging the financial gap during the rest of the year.