Making the Transition from Sure Start Local Programmes to Children's Centres, 2003-2008

Sure Start local programmes (SSLPs), an area-based early intervention programme for under fives in England set up in 1998, was replaced by children's centres (CCs), a universal, mainstream service, under the control of local authorities in 2003. This paper uses qualitative data from three urban authorities in an exploratory study that investigates how far CCs differ from SSLPs, and how far they are more recognisably similar to one another than were SSLPs. We explore interviewees' understandings of the idea of an SSLP and of a CC; differences between the core offers of the two programmes in terms of funding, consistency, local responsiveness and the balance of services; issues arising from making CCs a mainstream service; and changes in governance in terms of information flows, lines of accountability and parent participation. We find that while CCs differ from SSLPs in significant respects, they also differ one from the other, and we offer some reflections on the possible causes of this.