New research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and carried out by a team of researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the University of Birmingham, Frontier Economics, Coram Family and Childcare, and the University of Surrey, analyses how childcare providers’ finances are likely to have been affected by the lockdown, and how they might look going forward. It finds that more than double the number of private sector nurseries than pre-pandemic would have been running at a significant deficit during lockdown, with less than £4 in income for every £5 of costs. This is despite government support through continued public funding and the substantial furlough and self-employment schemes.

Megan Jarvie, Head of Coram Family and Childcare said: