The BBC is saving more than 4m by closing down its workplace nurseries and plans to spend the money on programming, Nursery World has learned.
Trade unions BECTU and the National Union of Journalists have collected more than 1,200 signatures against the proposal for phased closures of seven subsidised nurseries announced by the BBC last year (News, 14 December 2006). The closures will begin in late 2007 and the last nursery will shut in 2010.
A BBC spokeswoman confirmed that 4.1m saved from the nursery closures would be put into programming as part of the institutions commitment to broadcasting.
The BBC argues that only 7 per cent of the 3,000 staff who have pre-school-age children have access to its nursery places, so administration of a childcare voucher scheme would be fairer. Campaigners say that this is an argument for expanding rather than terminating the nursery services.
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