Austerity cuts are eroding benefits of Sure Start children’s centres

A study commissioned by the UK government has concluded that children’s centres set up to support parents of young children can improve the mental health of mothers and functioning of families but that these benefits are being eroded by cuts.

Findings from the study were quietly published with a mass of other documents just before Christmas by the Department for Education.1

The children’s centres were introduced under the last Labour government’s Sure Start programme to provide a range of services for parents …