Hackney Council admits to unlawful consultation over children’s centre closures

Children’s centre campaigners protested outside the Town Hall in April. Photograph: Maya Sall

Hackney Council has settled out of court a legal challenge over its plans to close two local children’s centres – after accepting its consultation was unlawful.

Parents and campaigners who fought to bring the judicial review case against the Town Hall were jubilant last night after the local authority conceded it had not been clear enough with residents over its controversial proposals.

The reversal came the night before the review’s final hearing was due to take place at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Hannah Hollings, mother of one of the child claimants in the case, said: “I am beyond thrilled that Hackney has agreed not to go ahead with its decision, based on this consultation, and that it has accepted its consultation was unlawful.

“Sebright Children’s Centre is so important to my son, and I was really worried about the impact to his wellbeing and to all other families that attend the children’s centers if they were to close.”

Since January, parents have railed against the planned closures of Stoke Newington’s Fernbank and Haggerston’s Sebright centres, which offer affordable childcare for children between six months and five years old.

Five child claimants and their families, represented by law firm Rook Irwin Sweeney, argued that closing the centres would amount to the loss of 129 childcare places—a 25 per cent reduction in all subsidised nursery places in Hackney.

They also argued that the Town Hall had failed to consult on alternative options during the consultation period, which took place between 31 January and 24 April this year.

The council had said this proposed “restructuring” of Sebright and Fernbank was driven by the need to save money amid a £1.07 million budget deficit, resulting from a fall in nursery fees and higher operations costs.

The plans were part of a wider strategy to save £4 million across its early years’ service within three years.

Lawyer Alex Rook previously told the Citizen that the council’s starting position was that it needed to make cuts specifically to the centres, but he said savings could have been made elsewhere.

Hackney Council rejected this accusation, telling Rook it did not accept the criticisms and that it considered its consultation “fair and lawful”.

But the families’ case was bolstered by the Town Hall’s decision to make unexpected changes to the consultation materials.

In a statement last night, Rook Irwin Sweeney said: “Prior to launching its consultation, Hackney had commissioned external consultants to deliver an independent review of its children’s centres.

“Once the external consultants’ full report was finally disclosed to the claimants, just two months before the final hearing, the claimants sought permission to amend their claim to argue that Hackney had further misled consultees.”

The solicitors added that the full report had not been disclosed to anyone apart from the five children and their families, but Hackney Council has “accepted its consultation materials were not sufficiently clear to consultees with regards to this full report”.

The consultation has now been quashed and the Town Hall has agreed to pay all the parties’ legal costs.

In a statement released yesterday, the council stood by its stated need to make savings around subsidised childcare.

But following external legal advice,”[it does] not believe it is in residents’ best interests to use any further resources to defend the legal challenge”.

It added: “We will take this opportunity to review our approach on how to make our early years provision more sustainable in the future, and present future plans as soon as it is practically possible.”

When asked about who was in charge of the consultation, a spokesperson told the Citizen it had been agreed by the cabinet.

Natalie Aguilera, a campaign leader and a parent of a child who attended Fernbank Nursery, said she was “absolutely thrilled” by the outcome.

“It is a shame that it took us having to go all the way to what we thought was going to be a day in court for them to finally concede,” she said.

Aguilera argued that after the council previously consulted on closing Fernbank and Hillside nurseries in 2021, many families were needlessly fighting the same battle once again.

“The council put them through this debacle, the consultation, which has now been proved to be considered as unlawful.

“Everyone in the campaign is obviously very, very happy that we have won this case, and that the council will have to go through a consultation if they decide to still move forward with the changes—and we will fight it again, obviously.

“But the hope is that maybe they decide not to do this.”

The campaign, which raised money from Crowdjustice to cover its legal fees, garnered significant support from parents, unions and local politicians, including Hackney MP Diane Abbott.

Hackney Greens’ joint leader Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock applauded the “determined campaigners”, and argued the affair was proof of the ruling Labour party’s “austerity-driven”, “closed-door” operation.

“Hackney’s administration should be ashamed—not only did it fail to consult residents properly, but it has also now burdened us with the costly aftermath of its unlawful conduct.

“[We] have time and again called out Hackney Council’s lack of transparency and disregard for residents in decisions that greatly impact their lives.

“The campaigns to oppose austerity impacting the most vulnerable residents, families, workers and those with special needs continues, and this case proves that it is our communities that have the power when we come together to resist.

“We sincerely hope the council learns from this and engages residents in a collaborative, respectful manner.”