Nurseries face closure as children pulled out by hard-up parents

Published on Friday 10 July 2009 22:21

NURSERY schools could face financial problems or even closure as parents tighten their belts in the recession, it has been claimed.

The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Scotland has warned that many parents are either pulling their children out of nursery or only using the free 12.5 hours which is paid for by the government.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the NDNA said no private nursery can afford to survive on the income generated by the free hours alone.

Ms Tanuku said: "Where parents are losing their jobs, all they are doing is keeping to their free entitlement and no more.

"If parents are only using their free entitlement, nurseries cannot survive on that, because it's not covering the costs of childcare."

Around 80 per cent of all nursery care is provided by the private or voluntary sector, the remainder delivered through local authorities.

Pre-school years education was a key focus of the SNP's last election manifesto, the party vowing to increase the provision of free nursery education for three and four-year-olds by 50 per cent. The manifesto stated: "That means increasing the entitlement from 400 hours a year to 600 hours a year."

So far, entitlement has only been increased to 475 per year and will not rise to 570 until 2010.

They also promised every child would be given "access" to a nursery teacher. However, in September The Scotsman revealed that would not mean every child would have a nursery teacher every day.

Adam Ingram, the children's minister, admitted the pledge of "access" could mean a child only seeing a teacher once a week.

The new school Curriculum for Excellence covers a wider age range – from three to 18 years – than the five to 14 range in the guidelines it replaced.

As a result, teachers say they are needed more than ever in nurseries.

Councils, however, are replacing them with nursery nurses to save money, or using peripatetic teachers who spend a few hours a week at each early years centre.

Rhona Brankin, Labour's education spokeswoman, said: "The SNP government promised to prioritise early years and there is now a danger of that not being fulfilled."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "One of our key priorities is to ensure that children in the important early years get the help and support they need. That's why we committed to achieving 50 per cent more nursery provision by 2011. We are making good progress."

'WE'RE AMONG THE LUCKY ONES'

INEZ Murray runs the three Four Seasons Nurseries in Glasgow city centre. She feels fortunate because her nurseries specialise in looking after children whose parents have returned to work and need more than the minimum care the government pays for.

"We've been very lucky, but some nurseries – if they have been quite limited, such as a workplace nursery, and that company goes bust – will find themselves in difficulties," she said. "Some nursery managers are worried. We've had parents where one has lost their job and we've offered to keep their child's place open for three months to give them time to find more work."

She went on: "The central issue is the government has to fund childcare in a much more efficient and effective way.

"They cannot expect the private sector, which costs far more than we are given, to provide a place for a child. We have to pay VAT, we pay full business rates, and it is not an even playing field we are on with local authority nurseries."