With many schools preparing to break up for the holidays this week, mums and dad across the country will be looking for affordable ways to keep their kids occupied and entertained over the long summer break.
Local services such as children’s centres, parks, swimming pools, libraries and museums have always been at the hub of communities. They offer a lifeline for youngsters and their families. They enhance learning, and combat anti-social behaviour, inactivity and obesity.
And through the long hot summer, our members will be working hard in these services to ensure young people have meaningful activities to keep them occupied.
But the options available to parents are getting smaller and more expensive every year. Since 2010 the Tory government has had these local services squarely in its sights, with vicious spending cuts resulting in many of these services unable to meet our children’s needs this summer.
Service closures, deteriorating maintenance, staffing shortages, higher chargers and shorter opening hours are all taking their toll. They mean children and young people have less available to them in their local area. They will be more at risk of boredom, inactivity, and getting into trouble.
The government desperately needs to reassess how local government finance is distributed, so that it matches local need, along with finding new sources for funding, such as cracking down on tax evasion.
It is high time that the government recognised that short-term savings are storing up long-term costs for the future. The cuts are already leaving many working parents struggling to find quality and affordable childcare over the summer holidays – action is needed now.
