Nurseries forced to shut due to 'ill-thought-out' free childcare policy

Nurseries are being forced to SHUT due to Jeremy Hunt's free childcare policy, it has been warned. Critics say the surprise policy in last spring budget’s was ill-thought-out, prompting higher prices and fewer nurseries across the UK amid the Cost of Living crisis.

Nurseries are facing closure as they struggle to balance their books, i t has been warned, after the government promised 30 hours of “free” childcare for eligible under-5s by September 2025. “It’s like having subsidence on your house,” Sarah Ronan, director of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, told the Guardian.

She told the Guardian newspaper: “You don’t then go and build a massive extension without fixing the foundations first.” The nurseries have slammed the hourly rate set by the government, which they say doesn't meet the cost at £11 for under-twos, £8.28 for two-year-olds and £5.88 for three and four-year-olds.

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Joeli Brearley, CEO of campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, said: “We’re hearing all the time that costs are increasing outside the funded hours and parents are seeing very large increases in the cost of consumables like food and nappies as nurseries look to make up shortfalls.

"The overall savings are far less than families had anticipated.” Sylvia Tijmstra, CEO at the Streatham Youth and Community Trust (SYCT), said: “Eligibility [for government-funded hours] has been expanding and that’s great, but the funding provided by central government, and passed on to us by local authorities doesn’t cover the true cost of delivering good quality nursery provisio."

“For smaller settings with a certain ethos, I just can’t see how all this can stack up,” she says. “It’s really worrying for the longer term – we’re probably just a small example of a wider problem.”

“We remain very confident in the strength of our childcare market to deliver the largest ever investment in childcare in England’s history, and we are already seeing providers looking to expand their placements across the country,” said a department for education (DfE) spokesperson.