In this issue of Nursery Chains, we have for the first time in the directory listed the total number of registered places provided by each group. This gives us a picture of how the biggest groups in the country compare.
Not surprisingly, Asquith Court Schools, which recently announced that it had been bought for 66m by the European arm of a global investment bank, West LB, is the largest. However, some of the others in our top 20 have comparatively few branches - such as Lancashire-based Kindercare Childcare Centres, which currently runs nine nurseries. One of these, at 248 places, is the largest known to Nursery World in the UK. The group is building two more 220-place nurseries for next year, so is likely to remain one of the biggest nursery providers in the country.
Many of the largest groups are based in the south-east, but by no means all. Kids Unlimited is based in Manchester; Careshare, which has secured Pounds 10.5m venture capital funding from 3i to expand and aspires to become one of the UK's top three groups, is based in Edinburgh. Many of the groups in the league table now have branches nationwide, regardless of where they are based.
Some of the groups are relatively new, including Leapfrog, which launched only in 1998 and, remarkably, is already one of the largest groups. Leapfrog, like Jigsaw, is pursuing a policy of growth through new build. Other chains have been growing since the 1980s, including Jigsaw, Busy Bees, Kids Unlimited, Asquith Court and Child Base.
Where figures for creche provision are available, we have included these, although we have not included places for out-of-school/holiday care. However, we have not included Safeway Creches in the table as we lacked the necessary information, although the supermarket would probably have taken its place amongst the country's largest providers of paid-for childcare.
In our league table, we have included places in nurseries that are both owned and managed by the provider. The totals have either been provided by the chains themselves or compiled from figures provided for individual nurseries. Nurseries in Ireland have been included, but overseas branches have not.
Many highly respected groups do not appear on the list, including London-based Nurseryworks Family Solutions, now owned by US childcare giant Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which operates small-and medium-sized nurseries in central London. The chains below do not have a monopoly on quality. However, they are unquestionably amongst the sector's major employers, and their future development and policies on pay, conditions and training will influence the whole of the childcare market.
UK'S 20 LARGEST NURSERY CHAINS
Nursery chain Places
Asquith Court Schools 5,340
Jigsaw Group 4,104
Leapfrog Day Nurseries 3,036
Kids Unlimited 2,487
Busy Bees 2,247
Kinderquest 1,849
Just Learning 1,812
Child Base 1,664
Bright Horizons 1,502
Kindercare 1,286
Teddies Nurseries 1,225
Nord Anglia 1,184
Childcare Partners 1,169
Careshare 958
Child & Co 698
Academy Childcare 694
Happy Times 590
Happy Child 562
Petits Enfants 558
Early Years Childcare 541
