Nursery World - Not affordable for us

We operate two full-daycare nurseries in Southampton, having set up the first one ten years ago with no overdraft and a miniscule profit. Happy days! But then the funding kicked in. Because we could see that a free entitlement would benefit children and families in our area, we made a decision to offer places without a top-up, trusting that the grant paid would cover the cost of providing them. Initially it did, but that was before our operating costs rocketed.

But then the funding kicked in. Because we could see that a free entitlement would benefit children and families in our area, we made a decision to offer places without a top-up, trusting that the grant paid would cover the cost of providing them. Initially it did, but that was before our operating costs rocketed.

Last year the difference between the actual cost to us of providing grant-funded places for three-and four-year-olds and the grant funding we received to pay for them was 59,685 - an unsustainable loss to our business of 1,570.66 per week for each of the funded weeks.

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