The CEO of one of Britain's biggest social enterprises has warned of widespread job losses in nurseries due to the impact of government guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Claire Dove, CEO of Blackburne House in Liverpool, has written to councillors and MPs asking for help in addressing guidance published on Friday that means early years providers won't be allowed to furlough staff - or may only access the scheme "to cover up to the proportion of its paybill which could be considered to have been paid from that provider’s private income".
That's despite previous Government rules on furloughing for nurseries and early years learners having been without restrictions.
Ms Dove said this will "severely limit the eligibility of her staff to access the job retention scheme" - despite having used it for the past month.
Blackburne House runs its own nursery with 64 children on roll - but Ms Dove said without an "urgent review" of the decision, she is "deeply worried" she will have to lay-off members of her 15-strong team.
Ms Dove said in her letter that the nursery is already facing a "significant loss" in income due to it being closed during the lockdown.
That's as well as being excluded from all grant schemes introduced by the Government during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both the National Day Nurseries Association and the Early Years Alliance bodies have raised concerns over the changes.
Read about how Ms Dove overcame family grief and racism to achieve something incredible at Blackburne House here.
Ms Dove's letter said: "The new policy, which was announced without warning just days before the CJRS opens has left us in a position where we would have to recall up to a third of our staff from furlough and pay them 100% of their salaries despite their being no work for them and the income not being there to pay them.
"If this position continues, I fear we will not be able to pay them or have to lay them off, or worst case that our nursery may go out of business and I believe this will be repeated in nurseries across the country."
She claimed Government underfunding has led to an increase in nurseries going out of business over the last few years, with many others running at a loss or breaking even.
Her letter added: "If this scheme goes ahead with the exclusions outlined on Friday night and with no additional financial support available to our nursery, we could see local families lose childcare in the long term. Nurseries like ours are vital to the wider economy as we start to go back to business as usual.
"Even if we remain in business, if we lose staff it will take time to replace them in the future as the early years was already facing a workforce crisis.
"Please ask the Government to urgently reverse this decision and consider the impact it will have on the ability of providers to deliver the emergency childcare places that are needed now and the long-term sufficiency of places for children that will be needed in the future."
The Department for Education was contacted for a comment.
