Councillors are being asked to back finding new operators to run after-school clubs for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The move comes after the Portslade charity Extratime said that it was closing its after-school clubs at the end of July.
The matter is due to go before a Brighton and Hove City Council committee next week, with members asked to recommission after-school clubs for two special schools, Hill Park and Downs View.
Extratime, which was founded 20 years ago by two parents of severely disabled children, also ran holiday schemes and family events. But in June the charity said that it was not financially viable.
The organisation committed to keep operating its youth clubs and holiday schemes until the end of next month.
Councillors are being asked to back the quest for a new operator at a meeting of the Children, Families and Schools Committee next Monday (11 September).
If the agree, the after-school clubs would be run through a “service level agreement” for three years, with the option to extend the contract for a further two years, subject to good performance.
The proposed after-school clubs would run for three days a week from 3pm to 5.30pm, offering various activities, including dance, sport, arts and outdoor crafts.
This is down from five days a week because of recruitment problems. Also, in the autumn term, just two children were registered to attend on Mondays and Fridays.
Under the proposed new system, a minimum of six children would attend each session. Previously, there were between one and seven children at each session.
At Downs View, there would be a maximum of 10 pupils at each session, and at Hill Park, 16.
Previously, the contract was for 20 places a week and had a long waiting list.
The new proposal offers 78 places a week. Across the two schools, 77 families have expressed an interest in their child attending an after-school club.
Each session would cost £14, in line with other after-school clubs in the wider area.
A report to the meeting next week said that the focus was on after-school clubs, with council officials working with parents and carers on alternative plans for next year’s school holidays.
The report said: “Parents and carers have expressed their views about the continuation of the after-school clubs through surveys sent out in the summer term by the special schools.
“The factors that parents felt were driving their need for this type of provision were being a single parent / carer family, having more than one child with SEND, not receiving any other respite and being working parents / carers.
“They were all clear that after-school clubs were needed for families to be able to work and thrive.”
The council’s Children, Families and Schools Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm on Monday 11 September. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
