Plymouth MP calls for ‘help now; to halt South West nurseries closures

Luke Pollard has called on the government to provide ‘help now’ to safeguard South West nurseries following a cross-party meeting with the Education Secretary yesterday. 
Alongside Torbay MP, Kevin Foster and founder of Tops Days Nurseries, Cheryl Hadland, Luke met with the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan and the Minister for Children, Claire Coutinho, to discuss the wider challenges facing nursery provision in the South West. 
The early years childcare sector is currently facing chronic shortages and mass closures due to a recruitment and retention crisis in the sector. According to Ofsted, 5,400 early years settings closed in the first eight months of 2022. 
In the meeting, Cheryl, who oversees 33 Top Days Nurseries (including five nurseries in Plymouth), stated that many nurseries are struggling to recruit staff, highlighting that a starting salary in the early years sector would typically start on £18-20,000. In comparison, the national average wage is around £31,000. 
Cheryl added the inability to competitively pay staff became particularly serious in April this year when the minimum wage increased by 9.7%, compared to as little as 1.5% increases in the funding rate from some local authorities in the South West, such as Torquay. This has been compounded by soaring inflation, utilities and business rates increases.
Many families are also finding early years education and care unaffordable due to soaring inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, preventing them going back to work, and preventing children from having professional education and care. 
In this year’s Budget, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a mass expansion of state-funded childcare, promising up to 30 hours a week of free childcare for eligible households in England, but the plans would not be fully introduced until September 2025.  
Luke Pollard, Member for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: “Decent affordable childcare is vital for our country, but the reality for many families is that childcare is too expensive and there are fewer nurseries and places available due to chronic staff shortages. 
“Labour has already set out its ambition to fund more childcare places to make it easier for people to enter the profession and to support our early years businesses but we still have a problem today. 
“These nursery businesses might not survive the next few months and that’s why we desperately need support today to keep early years nurseries open.” 
Cheryl Hadland, founder and chair of Tops Days Nurseries said: “Many people in the early years childcare sector are feeling neglected by the government because the funding provided to us is simply not matching what we need to pay our staff. No nursery staff have had pay outs like the NHS and MOD, yet their pay is less to start with and their roles are just as crucial to society.
“We believe in what we do, and we want to provide the best possible education for children. To do that we need to retain our staff, and recruit more. We would like to attract more people with degrees, but we can’t currently offer them a fair pay rate.
“I hope the Minister can deliver on her promise today to give us the funding we need to pay properly for skilled nursery staff and help keep these vital nurseries open for business.”