Nursery World - Latest on Happy Times: staff and children offered rescue places

Staff and children from two London-based nurseries that closed without notice last week have been offered a lifeline by the Westminster Children's Society, which has stepped in to offer emergency childcare places and jobs.

The abrupt closures of the Happy Times nurseries in Fulham and Battersea on 28 November left 70 staff redundant and 287 children without daycare.

Nursery workers at the Battersea site found out they were to lose their jobs when the manager received a phone call at 4.30pm on 28 November informing her that the nursery was to close that day. Staff then had to inform parents when they came to collect their children. Parents are said to be owed thousands of pounds in fees and staff do not know if they will receive any further salary or redundancy payments.

The Westminster Children's Society, a chain of community nurseries with 18 settings in London, has said that it is trying to find spaces for children who have been left in the lurch at its own nurseries and that it may recruit some ex-Happy Times staff. The WCS also called for more help from Government for struggling childcare providers, including the publication of a clear strategy of support.

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