Spaces of care beyond the home: austerity and children’s services

Abstract

This chapter examines a shift within UK social policy away from neighbourhood infrastructures of policy and services under conditions of austerity. The loss of these services are creating increasingly fragmented and unequal contexts in relation to local landscapes of care and support for families. The chapter draws on research about Sure Start Children’s Centres, which can be seen as crucial ‘in-between’ or ‘home-like’ spaces, linking care at home with wider networks and resources. The paper focuses on services, closures, activism and governance relating to the centres which were aimed at children under five and their families.