Ealing Accused of Undermining Government's Family Hubs

Shortly after the closures, the government has announced a policy of setting up Family Hubs in every London borough through either reconfiguring existing children’s centres or setting up new sites.

Acting as a one-stop shop for advice, support and early intervention, the hubs are part of the government’s new plans to “give children the best start in life”. It follows evidence that showed children living near the last Labour government’s flagship Sure Start centres were more likely to achieve five good GCSE grades later in life.

A total of 82 existing ‘family hubs’ are listed on the government website though the list is incomplete as it does not include every known children’s centre in London, with none listed in Ealing despite it having 25.

Last week, the Labour-run Ealing Council confirmed plans to shut 10 children’s centres when it rejected a call-in by the Liberal Democrat opposition over the Cabinet’s decision to rubber stamp the closures.

This week, the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said Family Hubs would be “a lifeline of consistent support across the nation, ensuring health, social care and education work in unison to ensure all children get the very best start in life”. Many are expected to open inside existing children’s centres.

Councillor Jonathan Oxley, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for education in Ealing, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the mixed messages between national Labour and the council were “absurd”.

He said, “Family hubs are a fantastic way to use children’s centres to deliver critical services to vulnerable families across the country. It’s frankly absurd that while the Starmer government is expanding children’s centres, Ealing’s Labour council is closing them down.”

The new family hubs will enable Londoners to “benefit from greater support to make family life easier on their doorstep.. relieving pressure on parents and giving more children the very best start in life” according to the government.

These will roll out in every council area from April 2026 offering interventions and courses which help parents – such as stay and play groups – while providing a “single point of access for services across health, education, and wellbeing”.

These services are remarkably similar to those offered in Ealing’s children’s centres, something which only last week the Cabinet Member for a Fairer Start, Cllr Josh Blacker, said was not fit for purpose.

Claire Welsby, a campaigner for Save Ealing’s Children’s Centres, says Ealing Council’s decision is now contradictory of the government. Speaking to the LDRS, she said, “Just days after we had the scrutiny meeting when they agreed to close them down, their government, the Labour government, tells everyone how important children’s centres are.

“We already have an infrastructure of children’s centres, as locally as we can, with the 25 centres. So, to be cutting them at a time when the government is proposing to build on Sure Start centres as a moral obligation… is remarkably wrong.”

She added, “Either they didn’t know about it, as a local Labour council, and this is a government strategy, or they did, and they’re seriously misguided… the government say this is a watershed moment, so it would appear we’re on the wrong side of the watershed.”

The plans, backed by over £500 million of government funding, will help “transform the existing family hubs and Start for Life programme” and create up to 1,000 hubs across the country by the end of 2028 – with all 33 local authority areas in London set to benefit.

This includes areas currently without any access to funding to support hubs – Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, City of London, Ealing, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston, Redbridge, Richmond, Sutton, Wandsworth and Westminster.

An Ealing Council spokesperson said, “Children’s centres provide vital services for families and are cornerstones of the community, but the current set up is not working as not all families who could benefit are using them. Our aim is to reach more families, earlier, with better support, and provide services tailored to our families’ needs and move them into the community to better reach those who may need our help.

“While some centres will no longer operate in their current form, the services themselves are being enhanced, with all seven towns seeing an increase in children’s centre activity following the changes.

“Our Improved Early Help Offer is very much aligned with the recently announced Best Start for Life Family Hubs agenda, and the Families First Reforms, with each having a shared ambition to improve early intervention and deliver integrated, family-centred support that addresses need at the earliest opportunity providing families with help in the right way at the right time.

“The Best Start Family Hubs will roll out 1,000 hubs nationally by the end of 2028 and as part of this we will review our children’s services to ensure it continues to be in line with emerging legislation and responds to families’ needs.”

Written with contributions from Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter

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