Workers at three nurseries run by Castle College, a higher educationestablishment in Nottingham, say they were given no warning about theclosures.
Seventy-five nursery places for children will also be lost when the nextcollege term starts in September.
Unison spokesman Mike Scott said, 'This was totally unexpected andeveryone is gobsmacked. Neither staff nor parents were told until nearlythe last day of term. The college is trying to save 1.5m, butclosing the nurseries will save 80,000 at most. This will hitsingle-parent families most and these are the very people the Governmentwants to encourage back into education.'
Castle College is making the cuts ahead of a proposed 'super college'merger with two other Nottingham colleges. A college spokesman said thatit was disappointed to be shutting the nurseries, but could not affordto divert funding from its learning budget to support the nurseries,which he said were making a loss.
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