Contracts for Children’s Centres announced!

Essex County Council has now announced the organisations, which will run the
county’s 85 children’s centres from April 2012.
The process of selecting the new lead bodies began in early 2011. Each
organisation or ‘bidder’ has been assessed against four main areas to make sure
they could deliver high quality services which meet the needs of local children and
families. The areas were Service Delivery (what service is going to be delivered
and how); Finance (what the cost will be); Legal and Property; Employment and
Pensions.
Four contracts have been awarded, one each for the quadrants of Mid, West,
South and North-East Essex. The successful bidders are as follows:
Mid Essex Quadrant: 4Children
North East Essex Quadrant: Barnardo’s
South Essex Quadrant: Barnardo’s
West Essex Quadrant: Spurgeons
The new contracts will begin on 1 April 2012, and there is now a period of
transition as the new lead bodies prepare to take up the contracts.
As a parent or carer using a children’s centre you should not see any difference in the quality of the services you receive. Services at children’s centres will also continue to be regularly reviewed to make
sure they are reaching the families who most need them.
If you have any questions, please
email Essex County Council,
Early Years and Childcare at
eycomms@essex.gov.uk or
telephone us on 01245 438500.

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Please see main timetable for cancellation dates of sessions due to staff training.

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Due to the financial situation that we are currently experiencing we would appreciate a contribution of 50p per family for some of our sessions, but please rest assured that no family will be turned away or excluded if this will cause difficulty.  Please talk to a member of staff for more information.

 

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