The 30-minute programme being broadcast tonight on BBC North-West and Yorkshire, and available on iPlayer, focuses on the death of Genevieve Meehan, the nine-month-old who tragically died after being placed on a beanbag to sleep at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, in 2022, and raises further instances of manhandling of children within other nurseries.
Following the death of Genevieve Meehan, Tiny Toes Nursery was closed. Nine-month-old Genevieve died from asphyxiation when she was tightly swaddled, strapped to a beanbag, and left unattended for 90 minutes.
The programme also refers to new figures obtained by the BBC that suggest incidents of harm to children have increased since Ofsted started to provide early years settings with notice of an inspection.
A total of 72 local authorities responded to a Freedom of Information request sent by the BBC with figures of reports or allegations of harm to a child in a nursery. The data indicated there had been 5,795 reports or allegations of children being harmed by nursery staff, over a five-year period between 2019 and 2024.
There were like-for-like figures from 36 councils for both that period and the five years up to 2015, when Ofsted stopped routine no-notice inspections.
It finds that reports of harm to young children almost tripled over that time - from 1,303 between 2010-15, to 3,342 between 2019-24.
Drawing on interviews with staff working in early years settings and parents, it suggests nurseries are bringing in extra staff just for inspections and putting out ‘fake activities’ to ‘mislead’ inspectors, which is ‘putting children in danger’.
As part of the programme, the BBC interviewed Helen Penn, professor of early childhood at the University of East London (pictured below), who admitted the sector is in a ‘dire situation’, but ‘things can be sorted out’.
The Early Years Alliance, who were also contacted by the programme, said the ‘majority of providers prioritise safeguarding and breaches are extremely rare.’
It added that children's safety should ‘never be compromised’, however, and welcomed any action which strengthens this.
Tiny Toes Nursery
The programme features CCTV footage from Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme and recordings of the nursery’s deputy manager Kate Roughley, who was later found guilty of the manslaughter of Genieve Meehan, being interviewed by Police. It also includes interviews with staff who previously worked at the nursery, who highlight the failure of the setting’s owner to ensure staff: child ratios were adhered to and issues with the food served to children.
One former member of staff, Jade Kinsey claims that while she worked at the setting, she had been told to hide from an Ofsted inspector with children because they were operating outside of the legal ratios.
Another former member of staff, Danielle Duce, alleges that staff who were off sick or on holiday were told to get to the nursery when an inspection was happening otherwise they would be sacked.
According to the BBC, former members of staff at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme were sacked when they raised issues about the food in the setting in 2017.
When contacted by the BBC, the former owners of the nursery refuted the claims by Jade and Danielle. They were unable to comment further due to the ongoing investigation into the setting by Stockport Council. Ofsted were also unable to comment due to the continuing investigation.
Genevieve’s parents Katie and John Meehan have called for Ofsted to view nurseries’ CCTV footage as part of the inspection process and inspect more regularly.
A former Ofsted inspector told the BBC that she had never looked at CCTV and admitted things could be missed by not looking at it. She added that ‘it is easy to manipulate inspection’.
In response, Ofsted said that there is currently no guidance on nursery CCTV from the Government. They are currently consulting on reforms to the inspection process.
Ofsted's national director for social care, Yvette Stanley (pictured below), told the BBC in an interview that the inspectorate ‘doesn’t take things at face value only.’
She went on to say she ‘wasn’t surprised’ by the BBC’s data, but ‘can’t match it’. ‘It is something we are monitoring.'
The programme also featured child incidents at two further nurseries, either rated good or outstanding, the Cheshire Day Nursery at Guardian Street, one of four settings operated by the same provider, and Partou’s Stonehouse Nursery in Leyland. It suggests even settings rated the top marks, don't guarantee good practice.
Cheshire Day Nursery, Guardian St
The programme highlights an incident where a child had some bruising after returning from the setting. The child’s mother explains how she took her son to hospital where they were told they would need to apply for a Child Protection Order, which meant their parents could no longer have contact with their child.
Police inspected the nursery’s CCTV. A social services report said that the child had been ‘strapped to a chair for two hours in total which led to the bruising’, according to his mother, who was denied access to the footage for ‘privacy reasons’, said the nursery. The provider said the child had been in the ‘chair for less than two hours across the whole day’. The nursery added that there is ‘no conclusive evidence the bruises were caused by the chair’.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Cheshire Day Nurseries said, ‘We were, of course, extremely sorry to hear that the family had found some bruising and appreciate this was a distressing time for them.
‘However, we would like to make it clear that there is no conclusive evidence that the straps on Jonaton’s chair caused this. The safety of the children in our care is always of the utmost importance to us.
‘Jonaton was put into a low chair, close to the ground, on five separate occasions on the day in question - for breakfast, snack time, lunch, tea, and to undertake an activity. In total, that equated to less than two hours in the seat across the whole day.
‘When the police viewed the CCTV footage, they noted all the times that he was in the chair and did not find anything to warrant investigating any further. We are unable to show CCTV from the setting to the child’s parents due to reasons of confidentiality as other children are in the footage.
‘A multi-agency meeting was held and the Local Authority Designated Officer said that the straps on the chair could have caused his injury, but this was not conclusive. We have been using these chairs for many years without incident. We have been advised by the Local Authority to be completely sure that the straps on the chairs are keeping children safe, but do not restrict them.
‘Regrettably, due to an administrative error on our part, we were a day late reporting this to Ofsted within their timescale. However, by this point the police and LADO investigation had concluded there had been no malicious intent to harm any child. When they carried out a regulatory visit, they were satisfied with how the situation was managed.’
Partou Stonehouse Nursery, Leyland
The BBC interview another parent, Paula, whose nine-month-old Hannah attended the setting. She reveals she demanded to see the nursery’s CCTV after a member of staff was suspended. The setting provided the CCTV to Paula who saw her child being mishandled by the member of staff.
Following the incident, the member of staff was suspended and then dismissed. The nursery admitted the child had been ‘maneuvered incorrectly’. Partou, which operates the setting, said the incident was ‘regrettable and not the way to treat children.’ It added it was ‘shocked by what it saw’, and had reported the incident to authorities.
In a separate statement, A Partou spokesperson said, ‘Our team is committed to the highest possible standards in childcare and recognise the critically important nature of our responsibility as care providers. Through our safeguarding procedure, the incident involving Hannah Bibby was identified, responded to and reported to the authorities immediately. We supported Hannah’s family throughout and provided access to footage as soon as the process allowed. The member of staff involved was immediately suspended and following an investigation, dismissed and referred to the DBS.’
Shown the footage, Professor Helen Penn said it was a ‘terrible’ way to handle a child, it risked injury and was an unkind way of doing it [handling a child].’
Responding to the Panarama programme, the Department for Education (DfE) said it is introducing stronger safeguarding measures in early years settings in September, including ‘enhanced recruitment practices’ intended to prevent unsuitable people from working with children.
A spokesperson said the department will ‘continue to closely monitor whether any further changes to safeguarding requirements are needed in early years to keep children as safe as possible’.
