THE council is to ask charities to run some youth services – sparking concerns it is using "cheap labour" to fill gaps created by budget cuts.
It is part of £760,000 being cut from the early intervention, family support and integrated youth services budget.
The council is having to deal with a rise in the number of children going into care – meaning an extra £3.6 million has been spent this year.
In a bid to reduce spending, the authority is asking charities to create youth hubs throughout the borough where they will provide their individual expertise.
Frederick Clarke, the director of Mighty Man of Valour – a charity picked to work with the council – told the Advertiser: "Getting local groups to work with the youth service is a great idea.
"However, our main concern is that the council are looking for cheap or free labour.
"That would undermine our profession and we want to be acknowledged for our work as good value for money."
The charity currently helps reduce youth reoffending and exclusions from schools. It relies on personal donations and only receives money from the council indirectly through commissioning.
A council spokesman said all service providers and charities which receive commissions would have to "tighten their belts" in a further reduction to funding, although no one service would be cut entirely.
In addition, the council will merge early intervention and youth services into one in January and cut its senior managers from 14 to six.
As part of cuts of up to £1.75 million from the child care budget, the council is changing the way children's centres are operated. Since September, several have started providing nursery services with funding from education rather than social care.
Kathy Bee, shadow cabinet member for children, said the changes jeopardised support for all youngsters by focusing mainly on the under-twos.
She said: "A report into the changes admitted children over two may not get the attention and help they needed which would lead to problems later on. It doesn't get away from the fact social care for children and families who need it most has been cut."
However, leader of the council Mike Fisher has insisted Croydon is one of the few boroughs which have managed to keep all their centres open.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Karen Jewitt, who runs an old people's drop-in centre in South Norwood, harangued council officers for reducing her funding.
She later said: "I have a 90-year-old lady living alone in semi-sheltered accommodation who we won't be able to look after any more.
"If funding is cut then we can help fewer people live independently. Then they are forced to go into care which costs the council more in the long run."
Cllr Fisher said the council had improved the elderly's ability to live independently and taken pressure away from the residential care budget.
