Decision

The Director of Children, Families and
Education has decided to award grant funding in the sum of
£147,000 to Gautby, Play Youth and Community to support the
delivery of supervised and structured play provision as part of the
Local Authority’s (LA) localised play offer, in accordance
with the Proposal for Support during the period September 2025 -
March 2026. This service will offer play and developmental
activities for children which stimulate creativity and promote
health and wellbeing

Reasons for the decision

Play services have historically been delivered
internally by local authority staff. However, due to a service
restructure and lack of capacity to continue with this arrangement
Wirral Council are looking to work with a community partner to
support with the continued delivery of these vital services.

Under the Children Act 1989 Authorities have a duty to safeguard
and promote the welfare of children, including access to
recreational and play opportunities.

Section 507B of the Education Act 1996 requires local authorities
to, so far as reasonably practicable, secure access for all
qualifying young people to a sufficient quantity of ‘youth
services

Over 85% of a young person’s waking hours are spent outside
of school and formal education. Recreational and educational
leisure-time activities provided during those hours can have a
significant effect on young people’s development and
well-being.

In 2022, a review of spending on out-of-school youth programmes
found that youth services are a vital part of the response to the
current challenges young people face.

Research suggests that staffed play provision can be a vehicle to
‘open up’ the public realm to children and young people
and assist community cohesion, via preparing children to deal with
problems they may encounter in public spaces.

Playschemes can play a role in reducing the impact of inequalities
in children’s experiences by providing something to do and
creating experiences and memories that children carry into their
later lives and which broadens their horizons.
The decision supports the priorities of the Health and Wellbeing
strategy (2022-2027)
- Priority 3 - Ensure the best start in life for all children and
young people
- Priority 4 - Create safe and healthy places for people to live
that protect health and promote a good standard of living

The decision supports the delivery of the Wirral Council Plan
(2023-27)
- Theme 2 – Early help for children and families
- Theme 6 – Safe, resilient and engaged communities.

Alternative options considered

To undertake a competitive tender process for
this service. However, the timescales required to complete a full
procurement process would have resulted in a gap in the provision
of play services for children living in key areas of health
deprivation in Wirral.