Nurseries in Wales are going to struggle financially to stay open
Due to low funding and the rise in business rates nurseries in Wales are going to struggle to stay open, providers fear the worse. According to an Annual Survey for Wales carried out by NDNA found that Wales daycare is at risk at a time when Welsh Government are set to make ambitious changes to childcare.
With the promise of the 30hrs free childcare to be introduced in September, some providers are uncertain as to whether they will be offering the 30hrs free childcare this could cause difficulties for families to find a nursery. Without further help from Government, nurseries will have no option but to not offer the free hours.
Offering the 30hrs free childcare scheme could mean many nurseries make a loss and could potential mean they have to close their doors
The announcement of funding being given to nurseries is very short of what it will cost to actually deliver the hours. The report states that Wales is given the lowest hourly rates for funded places in Great Britain.
The NDNA Annual Nursery Survey found:
• Hourly funding rates for Foundation Phase are currently the lowest in Great Britain at £3.15 per hour compared with £3.94 in England, resulting in an average loss of £958 per child per year
• 45% of respondents are uncertain about or unlikely to offer 30 funded hours from 2020
• Just 35% are confident about the future of their nursery compared with 41% in the 2016 survey
• 65% expect to break even (44%) or make a loss (21%)
• 77% of nurseries plan to increase fees this year, by an average of 4.3%, to try to offset other rising business costs
• A lack of choice of flexible childcare for working parents with children forced to move settings to take up funded hours or miss out
• National Living Wage increases and rising Business Rates all putting additional pressure on nursery businesses
• 23% of nurseries reporting rises in Business Rates
• Losing staff to schools where they are better paid is a challenging problem for 54% of nurseries who responded
Are you a nursery owner from wales?, if so we would really like to hear your views on this subject