A UNION has warned that a shake-up of children’s centres in Oxfordshire could push more families into crisis.

As revealed by the Oxford Mail yesterday, Oxfordshire County Council has announced it intends to make £6m of savings by merging children’s centres and early intervention hubs into a single service.

It would serve youngsters aged up to 19 and rely more on partnerships with community groups and charities, senior councillors have said.

The council has not ruled out closure at any of the 44 centres or seven intervention hubs.

But Unite the Union said the change would place more pressure on local services and reduce support available to families.

Branch chairman Simon Edmondson said: “ While we understand the need to protect services to our most vulnerable families, we feel that by further reducing the preventative work it delivers the council will be neglecting the issues which often push these families into crisis.

“We urge the council to do everything in its power to protect those frontline services which offer preventative services and which, in partnership with the voluntary and community sector, do so much to uphold society in Oxfordshire.”

The union also raised concerns that 26 youth centres, kept open by community deals when the county youth service was axed by the county council and replaced with the early intervention hubs, would now be asked to handle more youth work.