Opinion: To the Point - Cashing in on credits

On my route to work, there is a private day nursery in a run-down terrace of shops on a main road. Within the past two years this nursery has had several owners. It began as an offshoot of a radical Pentecostal church. Then it was taken over by the owners of a local nursery whose Ofsted report stated it was 'inadequate'. Now I notice it has been taken over again, by another small chain, and has a new name.

When I enquired about the new owners, the local Family Information Service knew nothing about them and suggested I consult the Ofsted site. The Ofsted site gave only registration details, since the nursery in its new guise had not yet been inspected. The website advertised above the shopfront is a domain name only and has a blank page. So I decided to ring the bell and ask for a leaflet. I was let into a bare, dingy, dirty hallway. 'What do you want a leaflet for? Why have you come here?' the worker said. A toddler with a nappy half way down his legs strayed into the hallway. He was hauled up by one arm and taken away.

I decided to do a quick investigation of the other nursery which Ofsted inspectors had described as inadequate in every respect. Its light-touch inspection 10 months later made no reference to the previous damning report and gave the nursery a 'two' rating. The owner has now opened a 72-place nursery in a unit on a small industrial estate. Its fees for children under three are £800 a month.

Ofsted lists more than 900 non-domestic childcare premises within a five mile-radius of the nursery I visited. Many of them are small private nurseries, frequently changing hands, and mostly half-full. They are quick-buck nurseries, using Ofsted registration as an opportunity to cash in on family tax credits. They are in poor areas serving the poorest children, ripping off the poorest mothers.

This is the underbelly of childcare. Through its indiscriminating support of the childcare market, the Government has overseen a shameful drop in standards. It is the poorest families who experience the worst care. It is a situation which would be unacceptable in any other European country.

- Helen Penn is professor of early childhood studies at the University of East London