Nursery chains have been subjected to turbulent trading conditions over the past ten years, and not all have stayed afloat as they struggled with a flood of Government initiatives and a surge of city investors.
When New Labour put childcare on its agenda, few in the sector forecast the scale of the challenges on the horizon. Nevertheless, leading figures in the nursery chain business say that raising the profile of early years has been beneficial, even if some of the policies have had major drawbacks.
'Broadly speaking, the Labour Government has done some great things,' says John Woodward, managing director of Busy Bees. 'They put childcare at the top of the agenda. When we started 25 years ago, the only help we got was £25 towards insulating the loft. Think how much help there is now: the tax credit, vouchers, nursery education grant.
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