Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Executive to provide a report to update Members on the outcome of the Early Help Review that has been conducted by Leicestershire County Council (LCC) and to consider the implications for this Council.

The Deputy Chief Executive provided a report to update Members on the outcome of the Early Help Review that has been conducted by Leicestershire County Council (LCC) and to consider the implications for this Council.

The report highlighted that the current agreement for delivering the Supporting Leicestershire Families (SLF) part of the service terminates on 31 March 2019 and that the 5 staff who currently deliver this service with be subject to TUPE transfer from 1 April 2019.  LCC are proposing to include these staff in their Action Plan in order that they are not disadvantaged.

The services subject to the review included:

·         Supporting Leicestershire Families (SLF)

·         Children’s Centres

·         Youth Offending Service

·         Early Help, Information, Support and Assessment.

Concerns were raised that taking services away from the Children’s Centres will deter a lot of vulnerable families from making contact with staff and that Venture House was not the right venue.

Members raised concerns about where staff for the new service would be based.  The Deputy Chief Executive advised that this is still under discussion but that the default position was likely to be Venture House.  The three children’s centres in the town were joint children’s/community centres and that the centres would remain as community centres. The Deputy Chief Executive advised that the intention was to bring a further paper back on how the community centres could be developed once it was clearer what the Leicestershire County Council requirements were likely to be.

Members asked if it would be possible to know what numbers currently use the centres to gage whether the move to Venture House was likely to be detrimental to attendance, however, it was advised that Melton Borough Council does not hold this information and it might be difficult to obtain.

Concerns were raised that once LCC serve notice on any of the three Children’s Centre Agreements, there could be a financial implication for Melton Borough Council in terms of repayment of capital money.  The Deputy Chief Executive advised that though there could be potential clawback from the Department of Education, this would be an issue for LCC not Melton Borough Council.

Members asked for regular reports on how the new Early help Service was developed and in particular how it integrated with other services.

RESOLVED that

(1)  The Committee notes that the delivery of the Supporting Leicestershire Families service in Melton will not be delivered by Melton Borough Council staff after the current agreement terminates on 31^st March 2019 and that the 5 staff who currently deliver this service will be subject to TUPE transfer from 1^st April 2019.

(2)  The Committee notes that in order to safeguard the interests of the staff involved, LCC are to include these 5 staff in their Action Plan for affected staff across the County with immediate effect, even though they are not employed by LCC.

(3)  The Committee notes that following the termination of the current agreement the Council will not need to make any provision for future budget processes and that the £30k previously included in the Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2019/20 will not be required in the development of the budget for that year.

(4)  That a further report linked to our focus on priority neighbourhoods will be considered by this Committee regarding the future uses and finances for the 3 Community Centres at the Edge, the Cove and Fairmead once it is clearer what LCC intentions and requirement are.