Parents face a crisis in finding childcare as nurseries are pushed to the brink of closure amid rising costs and staff shortages.
Monkton Nursery School was the first nursery in Liverpool to offer combined day care and education when it opened in 1980. But owner Sue Poole, 68, said it's now the "worst time in 40 years to be a nursery".
With mounting costs pushing parents to the limit of what they can afford, she's not surprised nurseries are shutting down or reducing hours across the country. Sue said: "It all comes down to the national education funding that the government awards to three to five-year-olds, which doesn't come anywhere near covering the costs involved in running a nursery and educating children."
Even for Monkton in Mossley Hill, it's been an "absolute nightmare trying to get qualified nursery practitioners" to replace long-serving members of staff who've retired, despite paying staff no less than £10.50 per hour, offering five weeks of holiday plus bank holidays and birthdays off, as well as a £500 bonus each year, according to Sue. She wants to pay more, hopefully enticing people away from higher paid and less stressful careers, but can she and other nursery operators afford it?
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All three and four-year-olds, and some two-year-olds, in England are entitled to 570 hours of free early years education per year. But the amount paid to nurseries by the government doesn't cover the costs of roughly 95% of nurseries, with 85% saying they operate at a loss or break even, according to the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA).
If they close, many kids will have no where else to go. Monkton, with a waiting list full until 2024, already has to turn kids away. With prices rising faster than they have for 40 years, nurseries are struggling to keep up with the costs of basics like food and fuel, let alone the extra activities that Sue believes teach kids to love education and go to school ready to read and write.
An NDNA spokesperson said: "Having highly qualified practitioners and graduates in a nursery can make a real difference to the quality of provision which children receive. This can give all children, especially those from deprived backgrounds or with special needs, the best start in life and really help to address those inequalities."
Monkton brings in a gymnast, football coach and dance and music groups to teach the kids new skills, but this requires money and qualified teachers that increasingly aren't available or affordable. If they pass too much of the rising costs on to customers, parents won't be able to afford to send their kids to nursery, and the jobs will start to disappear, Sue warned.
Amid the staffing crisis and unmet demand for nursery spaces, the government recommended early years providers take on extra children without hiring extra teachers. Monkton currently has a ratio of one staff member to four two-year-olds, rising to one staff to five or six kids for three to five-year olds.
Sue won't budge on having a small ratio because "parents want high-quality education and a teacher to encourage the children and develop imaginative activities for them". She said: "There's no way I will reduce my staff ratios. That's not quality education. And you'll get more staff leaving because you'll be putting more pressure on the remaining staff."
Low pay and stressful working conditions are "frustratingly the main reason for the recruitment crisis in early years", according to Jonathan Broadbery, director of policy and communication at the NDNA, of which Sue is also Liverpool chair. Jonathan said: "Nurseries repeatedly tell us how much they value and want to reward their hard working staff who make such a difference to children's lives and were on the frontline throughout the covid pandemic.
"Having to absorb this shortfall in funding means that they often can't afford to pay their staff the salaries they want to. We are now seeing more and more children coming into nursery with developmental issues such as difficulties with language acquisition or poor communication and social skills as a result of the covid restrictions.
"Our youngest children now need more support than ever, but early years settings have received no help or education catch-up money from the Department for Education like that given to schools."
Children's minister Will Quince said he won't compromise on safety and quality, and a spokesperson said the government is increasing the hourly rates paid to childcare providers, along with an already announced £180m to provide training and support to staff, The Guardian reported.
The spokesperson said: "We are aware of concerns about workforce recruitment and retention and are working with the sector to look further at how we can support providers in this area. Ministers are looking at all options to support parents with availability and costs of childcare. Any significant change to regulations would be subject to consultation."
