The nurseries have given Buckinghamshire Council a term's notice that they will withdraw from the free entitlement scheme when the new Code of Practice comes into force.
They include Stepping Stones Pre-school in Amersham, which is run by Tom Hackwood, the group's spokesperson (see News, 4 March). Around 80 per cent of the places at his nursery are funded places.
He told Nursery World the move means that around 120 places will be lost from the free entitlement scheme within a five-mile radius.
'It's too early to know how many parents will leave our nurseries faced with these higher fees, but there have already been some who have given us notice that they will have to take their children out at the end of the summer term,' said Mr Hackwood. 'I would expect to have a better idea by half-term how much we will have been affected.'
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