On Monday afternoon, a group of HomeStart Managers, volunteers, and families  with their young children watched in  dismay as the Conservative Cabinet of Hertfordshire County Council voted unanimously  not to renew its annual funding of £392,000 for the home visiting service. This decision would also cut off the £206,000 funding provided by the County’s Clinical Commissioning Groups resulting in a devastating reduction of £598,000 a year to HomeStart’s funds. The impact on HomeStart and its committed band of trained volunteers will be incalculable

In the report to Cabinet this service was described as popular with its service users.  It had proved that a charity staffed by volunteers could engage with hard-to-reach families whereas the  Children’s Centres could not.  In spite of this, the justification for these cuts, was that the need for home servicing had changed. Somehow the recently reorganised groups of Children’s Centres, themselves  struggling from having a £1.3 million cut in their funding together with the County’s recently restructured Health Visitor service will now be able to support those very families that in the past they had failed. How, was never explained nor how it would be paid for. While the contracted number of families supported is 395, the actual figure that HomeStart support is over 1,100.

While Councillor Roberts believes the new early-years service he has created will provide the level of contact these families desperately need, the facts will prove him wrong. The number of referrals from Children’s Centres and Health Visitors has been on the increase and shows no sign of reducing. Her also totally understated  the net effect on the Council’s finances. If Children’s Centres are to carry out even a fraction of this work, they will need extra funds. Nothing has been budgeted for. The funding agreement with Children’s Centres is insufficient to meet this need.

Liberal Democrat County Councillor Mark Watkin, Op[position Spokesperson for Children’s Services,  commented angrily. “The tragedy is that the County Council has decimated an outstanding service. Richard Roberts has  totally misrepresented the cost savings his decision will achieve, and he has condemned these hard to reach families to a very bleak future.  He has treated the dedicated managers and committed army of trained visitors with scant regard. What is unforgivable is that HomeStart knew that the County Council wanted to reduce its expenditure and had prepared a business plan to achieve this but were never given the chance to present it.”