Nursery World - Coronavirus: Long road to recovery for childcare settings, finds survey

New research suggests there will be no quick bounce back for nurseries and pre-schools in the autumn term following the coronavirus lockdown.

The latest data from Ceeda suggests for most settings that occupancy rates won't be back to normal come September

The latest data from Ceeda’s About Early Years COVID-19 tracker, published yesterday, reveals that PVI nurseries and pre-schools expect their average occupancy to be below 60 per cent at the start of the autumn term (September).

The data, covering the week commencing 27 July, is based upon a survey of 352 nursery and pre-school settings conducted between 3-13 August.

Following the lifting of lockdown restrictions on 1 June, Ceeda has collected data at regular intervals on child numbers, occupancy levels and incidence of Covid-19 tests for children and staff in PVI settings.

Providers were asked to give their best estimates of September occupancy rates for under-fives. Estimates were provided for three-quarters of surveyed settings (261 sites). Average occupancy was 58 per cent, with 45 per cent of settings expecting to fill half their capacity or less. However, 14 per cent of providers anticipated buoyant occupancy levels of 81 per cent or more.

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