FOUR of Haringey's 19 children's centres will lose all council support due to funding cuts, it has been revealed.

All money will be withdrawn from the Highgate, Rokesly and Northbank centres, as well as the linked site at Tower Gardens, following consultation with users of the service.

Councillors made a 75 per cent cut to the youth services budget in February, after cuts to Government funding left the council needing to make huge savings — including a £6.5 million saving in the children's centres and early years budget.

Councillor Lorna Reith, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “We’re simply no longer receiving the funding from central government needed to maintain the children’s centres in the same way.

“Our priority in deciding how the centres are run in the future has to be our most vulnerable children.

“Our proposals target services where there are the highest numbers of children who need our help most.

“This has been a complex process and decisions have not been made easily. I fully recognise the important role in communities that Highgate, Rokesly and Northbank which is why I’m pleased that, following our discussions with health providers, we have an agreement that all important health services like ante and post-natal classes, breastfeeding support and baby weighing will continue at the same venues as now.”

Councillors plan to organise remaining centres into four clusters, each with around four sites.

The council wants the manager of each cluster to coordinate services between centres so there is a variation of opening times and that they target vulnerable children effectively.

Staff at the threatened sites could lose their jobs, and the council has started a consultation with them, with a decision due in June.

But the cuts will reduce the social mobility of the borough's children, according to campaigners who have already got more than 1,000 families to sign a petition blaming the closures on the government.

Daisy Heath, campaign organiser, said: “How can the children’s centres of Haringey not count as a frontline service, supporting as they do some of the most vulnerable children in our country?

“This government talks of local choices, but in the case of Haringey children’s services this is unhelpful and irresponsible.

“The council have been tasked with impossible decisions and are just scapegoats.

“How can Michael Gove claim to believe in early intervention while refusing to ring fence money for children’s centres?”

Other council proposals include a plan to reduce council subsidy of childcare costs, which could mean an increase in fees to a top charge of £225 for children aged two and below.

Fees are likely to be linked to family income and a sliding scale could be introduced from next April, although no decision has yet been made on the increase.

The final decision on the future of children's centres will be made by Cllr Reith and the director of the children and young people's service on May 18.

The move follows the closure of after-school clubs, play centres, and the youth counselling service since February's budget was announced.