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Nursery schools forced to cut staff and services – survey shows

More than a third of maintained nursery schools have been forced to cut staff and services as a result of lost income due to Covid and uncertainty over next year’s funding, a survey has found.
Headteachers reported losing an average of  £76,000 in income, as well as having to spend an extra £8,000 for extra Covid-related costs Photo Adobe Stock
Headteachers reported losing an average of £76,000 in income, as well as having to spend an extra £8,000 for extra Covid-related costs Photo Adobe Stock

Two hundred of England’s remaining 389 maintained nursery schools (MNS) responded to the online survey carried out by Early Education, NAHT, NEU and Unison in March and April 2021.

Headteachers reported losing an average of over £70,000 of income, as well as having to spend an extra £8,000 for additional Covid-related costs.

Almost half (46 per cent) said that at the end of March 2021, they would be in deficit for the year. The average deficit reported was £76,000 and only 23 per cent of respondents confirmed that they could continue to operate within their current funding levels, with one in five (21 per cent) reporting that they had financial recovery plans in place or under discussion.

Last month, the Government confirmed funding for MNSs for the next two terms. However, despite ongoing promises from Government to find a long-term funding solution, MNSs still have no clear picture of what their funding will look like beyond next spring.

These latest findings suggest that the ongoing lack of certainty, coupled with the financial pressures of Covid, continues to put the long-term sustainability of this vital sector at severe risk.

The unions argue that nursery schools were not eligible for exceptional cost funding for Covid from government and so have had to bear the brunt of these costs themselves. They were also not eligible for some government schemes which benefited private providers in the sector such as the business rates holiday or business loans.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, warned that many maintained nursery schools were in a perilous financial position even before the pandemic, but the last year has ‘deepened that crisis’ and they have now been ‘pushed to the very brink’. He added, ‘If we are to avoid widespread nursery closures, the government must urgently come forward with a long-term solution – this can cannot be kicked down the road any longer.’

Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of Early Education, said that during the pandemic maintained nursery schools were a ‘lifeline’ for local families: they stayed open for the most vulnerable children and children of critical workers, often taking in children from other settings which closed.  They supported their families with remote learning – and often with food parcels and practical support – and they were in touch with vulnerable families when health and social services were unable to maintain contact. 

She added, ‘Instead of this lifeline being supported, it is being put at risk by Government failure to address their routine funding needs… Government needs to act now to resolve the long-term funding issue and provide targeted financial help to those whose survival has been jeopardised by the pandemic.’

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