More than a third of nurseries are unsatisfied with the level of council support
Janaki Mahadevan
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Nursery providers have reported that levels of support offered by local authorities have fallen significantly over the past two years.
In the National Day Nurseries Association’s annual business performance survey, 36.8 per cent of respondents said their local authority was not supportive, compared with 19 per cent of those who were questioned for the 2010 survey.
The association received responses from 537 settings. Of these 27 per cent said their council was “supportive” or “very supportive” compared to 54 per cent in 2010.
One nursery manager said: “Much of the training budget has been cut, and staff who have assisted us in the past have been cut.”
When questioned further two thirds of respondents said they had witnessed a significant reduction in training offered by local authorities.
Half had seen a reduction in support to improve quality and 72 per cent had seen a drop in subsidies or free training from councils.
No nurseries were offered an increase in support to employ graduate-level early years professionals (EYPs) and nearly 70 per cent had experienced reductions in the support offered for EYPs, which many said could threaten their sustainability as a business.
Purnima Tanuku, NDNA chief executive, said: “Nurseries are a vital part of the UK’s childcare infrastructure and want to see more done to help children and families.
“We welcome the government’s childcare commission as a great opportunity to ensure that the good quality childcare that we know matters most for children and parents is also affordable.”
