You are here: News Response to Early Years Alliance report finding that one in six childcare providers could close by Christmas

30th October 2020
By Hannah Parlett

New research conducted by the Early Years Alliance has found that one in six nurseries and childminders may not survive the winter if their income does not increase, rising to one in four in the most deprived local authorities. The Covid-19 pandemic has continued to have a detrimental impact on parental demand for childcare places and two-thirds (65%) of providers surveyed say that the government has not provided enough support for the early years sector during the crisis.

Megan Jarvie, Head of Coram Family and Childcare said:

This new research reveals the devastating impact of the crisis on childcare providers and a worrying picture of the challenges facing a childcare system already under pressure. Our own research (1) found that more than double the number of private sector nurseries than pre-pandemic would have been running at a significant deficit during lockdown."

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of childcare for enabling parents to work during lockdown and boost family incomes. We also know that high-quality early years education is crucial for preparing young children for their future and can help narrow the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers."

We believe that every family should be able to access affordable and high quality childcare so that children can develop vital skills and their parents can go to work. This is why we support the Early Years Alliance in their call on the Government to take action to make sure that there are enough early years places to meet families' needs.”

-ENDs-

Notes to editor

For more information, please contact Emma Lamberton, Communications Manager, Coram at emma.lamberton@coram.org.uk / 0207 520 0427 /07908 827908 or Hannah Parlett at Hannah.parlett@coram.org.uk 

1) Challenges for the childcare market: the implications of COVID-19 for childcare providers in England, Jo Blanden, Claire Crawford, Elaine Drayton, Christine Farquharson, Megan Jarvie and Gillian Paull https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14990

About Coram Family and Childcare

Coram Family and Childcare works to make the UK a better place for families by bringing together what we learn from our on the ground parent-led programmes and our research to campaign for solutions that parents want and need. We focus on childcare and early years to make a difference to families’ lives now and in the long term.

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