Families will be consulted on a shake-up of children’s centres which could see services run with fewer buildings and staff.
Leeds City Council said it could save £2.45m after launching a review of the future of 56 centres.
Plans include a workforce re-organisation, more sharing of buildings and some services for families being offered online.
No job cuts or centre closures have been announced, but a council report said it was “inevitable that there could be fewer overall posts on the revised structure.”
A statutory consultation is expected to be launched after executive board meets on Wednesday.
A report to the meeting said Leeds had more children’s centres than any other city.
It said: “Leeds remains an outlier with 56 Children’s Centres, compared to Liverpool with 23 and Birmingham with 22.”
A decline in birth rates meant fewer families were expected to use the services in future.
Currently, 40 centres are run by the council and 16 are operated under agreements with schools.
Most of the 56 centres are divided into 18 “delivery groups”, each with a single team of staff covering three or four sites.
That would be re-organised into seven groups, each covering a wider geographical area.
Children’s centre staff currently employed by schools and academies would be transferred to council contracts.
The report said: “This will then enable all employees to form part of the review.”
Formal proposals for the centres are expected to be presented to executive board in the autumn.
The report said: “The reduction in staff would result in a reduction in face-to-face delivery in some areas and there may be a greater need for delivery of some services by alternative means, for example online.”
The council would seek to maximise the use of its own buildings as part of the review, the report said.
It said: “There are savings opportunities that could be realised if Leeds City Council-owned buildings are released for sale, with the service being provided in an alternative location.”
By: Don Mort, LDRS
