Schools a 'crisis' centre for families, Leeds academic warns

Dr Doug Martin, Leeds Beckett University

Schools have become a “crisis” centre for families amid a perfect storm of rising poverty and dwindling services, a Leeds academic has warned, in the wake of reports over the loss of Sure Start centres.

A report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, published in recent days, found Sure Start centres brought big benefits for children’s health, but 500 sites have closed as they face major funding cuts. As schools are increasingly relied upon to become a new emergency service for family support, Dr Doug Martin from Leeds Beckett University claims, he calls for an urgent review of what the welfare state can offer.

“The vanishing welfare state has seen the removal of the supportive services that were once valued and cherished, while community networks developed in partnership with schools have all but disappeared,” said Dr Martin, course director at the Carnegie School of Education. “Schools have become the only infrastructure remaining in some of our poorest communities.”

Sure Start report