This in from the council, in their own words. Ed
‘Early help’ is a range of preventative and support services for families of children aged 0 to 19. These include the Island’s eight children centres, parenting and family support services, early childhood support and the Strengthening Families Programme. Services also play a vital role in helping prevent children and young people requiring the help of social services.
Starting in April
The new contract with Barnardo’s – which will begin from 1 April 2015 – brings a number of services currently delivered by a range of commissioned voluntary organisations or the council, under one service. This will lead to a more efficient and streamlined service while ensuring frontline services are not affected.
Barnardo’s was chosen following a detailed selection process, with four organisations bidding for the contract. Although the contract will run for an initial three years, the council has an option to extend this by a further two years.
Improvements to services
All eight children’s centre buildings will remain open under the new contract, and there will be improvements to the way that services will be delivered. These include offering services for older age ranges and increasing the use of buildings for other outreach services.
It is also planned to make more effective use of the children centres, such as introducing evening and weekend activities.
Under instruction to enhance early help services
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Executive member for children’s services, said:
“As part of the current Isle of Wight Children’s Safeguarding Improvement Plan, the council is required to enhance its early help services and a major part of this was tendering for a new provider to take on the running of all the services combined.
“Services such as children’s centres provide a valuable community resource and we need to ensure we have a fit for purpose model to improve early help support for families. This new way forward will not only ensure that, but it will enhance the services currently provided for families and children and young people.
“I have every confidence that Barnardo’s will continue to deliver the same high quality standard services and I am very happy the organisation has been chosen as the new provider. I look forward to Barnardo’s starting work from April.”
Barnardo’s: “Exciting to be involved”
Michelle Lee-Izu, director for Barnardo’s in the South East, said:
“We are very pleased to have been awarded this contract. It is very exciting to be involved with the Isle of Wight Council in delivering this innovative early help model.
“Our aim is to ensure a smooth and seamless transition of services for children and families. To achieve this we will work closely with council staff, employees, parents and children. We will be working with all families, but especially those who need us the most, in order to enable them to develop positive outcomes for their children and progress as excellent parents.”
Proposed changes to the council’s early help services were first announced in March 2014. A public consultation helped inform the decision making process, and members of the council’s Executive voted to approve the awarding of the contract at its December meeting.
Image: pinksherbet under CC BY 2.0
