Nursery World - Coronavirus: Labour analysis finds 19,000 childcare providers at risk of closure

A ‘perfect storm’ of rising childcare costs and thousands of providers at risk of closure due to a lack of government support will make it impossible for many parents to return to work, the Labour Party is warning.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green (left), and shadow early years minister Tulip Siddiq, visited LEYF's Bessborough nursery in Pimlico on 16 July to highlight the need for targeted support for the childcare sector

New analysis by Labour of data from the Early Years Alliance has found that nearly 19,000 childcare providers in England that are at risk of closing in the next year.

Meanwhile, childcare costs have risen between two and a half and three times as fast as wages since the Conservatives came into office in 2010. These figures are taken from Coram Family and Childcare’s Childcare Surveys of 2010 and 2020.

The Alliance found that a quarter of childcare settings felt it was 'somewhat' or 'very unlikely' that they would be open in 12 months time, meaning nearly 19,000 of England’s 75,000 childcare settings are now at risk of closure.

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