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Children's centre care makes loss

More than half the full daycare providers in children's centres are now operating at a loss, a Government survey has revealed, reinforcing concerns about the long-term sustainability of the programme.

The 2007 Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey, carried out forDCSF by BMRB, found that the financial position of providers had'worsened', with the number of children's centre nurseries losing moneyrising from 37 per cent in 2006 to 52 per cent last year, while 7 percent made a profit.

It also revealed that daycare settings in children's centres had thehighest average annual expenditure - 196,000 compared to 116,000 in childcare settings overall - and paid staff an average of9.30 an hour, while employees of other full daycare providersearned an average of 6.90.

Steve Alexander, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance(PLA), said the 'pressing issue of sustainability' had been brought into'sharp focus by the findings'. The charity's 'overarching concern' wasthat childcare providers were 'paying the price of inconsistentintervention in the childcare "market".'

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