As part of proposals to put five financially unviable council-run nurseries out to tender, Pete Bradbury, councillor for children and families at West Sussex County Council, is writing to all nursery staff asking if they would like to run the nurseries themselves under a social enterprise model.
'Across West Sussex, most childcare is provided by the PVI sector, so the purpose of this exercise is to see if we can find alternative means of provision,' said Mr Bradbury. 'Bearing in mind we subsidised the nurseries £179,000 this year, is it fair? We want a more level playing field. Let's let fairness prevail.
'The Government wants to actively encourage council employees who may want to go into social enterprise in the community, so we would certainly look favourably on this model.
'Every council needs to look carefully at their expenditure but the primary motivation is to follow Government legislation,' said Mr Bradbury.
Assistance for staff running the nurseries would come in the form of helping staff to create business plans or deciding on management.
If some staff choose to take up the social enterprise model, however, they may have less security in their jobs, as the TUPE arrangements would not apply.
Public sector union Unison in West Sussex is supporting nursery staff to create a service improvement plan in a bid to keep the nurseries council-run.
Branch secretary Chris Earwaker said, 'We are really concerned about this, particularly as the nurseries operate in quite socially deprived areas. The feedback from parents is that they are very worried. There are other things we can do to keep the nurseries council-run rather than privatised.
'We asked the council to put a paragraph in their report referring to our concerns and plans, and they did, which is positive. I'm pleased, as it means we can begin a dialogue.'
Ms Earwaker said, 'The staff are telling us that the council are putting extra charges on and they could run the nurseries to a smaller budget. For example, the council are employing temporary agency workers following their freeze on recruitment. This is more expensive because of agency fees. They have been doing this for six to 12 months.
'At the moment a couple of the nursery managers are keen to prove they can make the nurseries more viable. We will have a go at coming up with solutions and try to keep the nurseries in-house.'
Staff were informed of the proposals in early October and the last meetings to discuss the plans were on 1 and 3 November.
The council has since issued a report by Stuart Gallimore, director of children's services, outlining the rationale and the proposed process of procurement.
