Pre-school Education: Closures

(asked on 25th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many early education providers (1) have closed in the last six months in England, and (2) have closed in the last six months in areas of England with the highest level of income deprivation according to the English Indices of Deprivation.


Answered by
Baroness Berridge Portrait
Baroness Berridge
This question was answered on 10th February 2021

Ofsted publish data monthly on joiners and leavers in the childcare sector, which we have used as a proxy for providers that may have closed.

Between 30 June 2020 and 31 December 2020, there were a total of 3,202 childcare providers who left the Early Years Register across all provider types. However, this should be considered in conjunction with those who joined the Early Years Register to understand the net impact on the childcare market. Over the same time period there were a total of 2,340 providers who joined the Early Years Register. This data does not include nursery provision within schools. Further data on leavers and joiners can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joiners-and-leavers-in-the-childcare-sector.

Of the childcare providers who left the Early Years Register between 30 June 2020 and 31 December 2020, 396 (12%) were located in the most deprived areas. Deprivation quintiles are calculated from the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index rank of the provider’s address.

The early years sector has benefitted from the continuation of early years entitlement funding during the during the summer and autumn terms in 2020. As private nurseries typically rely on private income for a significant proportion of their income, they are able to furlough their staff via the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme (CJRS). Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme. As long as the staff meet the other criteria for the scheme, private nurseries are able to furlough their staff via the CJRS if they have experienced a drop in their income either from parents or the government. Eligible nurseries can also benefit from a business rates holiday and can access the business loans as set out by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Childminders are less likely to be employers and therefore are less likely to be eligible for support via the CJRS. Childminders may find the Self Employment Income Support Scheme more relevant. further information can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme.

There is little evidence of current, actual, failure in the early years market. Whilst we recognise that the early years sector has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, we have not yet seen localised failure of the market at any time in any local authority. Most importantly, we have not seen a significant number of parents unable to secure a childcare place since early years settings re-opened fully on 1 June 2020.

We continue to work with the early years sector to understand how they can best be supported to ensure that sufficient safe, appropriate and affordable childcare is available to those who need it now, and for all families who need it in the longer term.

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