Nursery World - Fall of more than 4,000 childcare providers in a year

The early years sector has seen the biggest drop in the number of providers in more than six years.

There has been a greater loss in nursery places in deprived areas, Ofsted figures show PHOTO Adobe Stock

During the last year alone, 4,000 childcare providers were lost – the biggest fall since the end of August 2015.

The latest official Ofsted figures show that there has been a 22 per cent drop in the number of early years settings during this time period – 19,100 settings - according to official figures.

While Ofsted said that the number of places in England has remained ‘broadly the same’, there has been a disproportionate loss in places in the most deprived parts of the country.

This is despite the fact that between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, the least deprived areas had more of a decrease in the proportion of providers, compared with the most deprived areas.

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