Special report: for-profit childcare

The world of high finance may seem an unfamiliar one to parents or to workers in nurseries. But over the past ten years, there have been remarkable changes in the way nurseries are financed and managed. Increasingly, stocks and shares and venture capital have come to underpin and reshape early education and childcare services. Corporate nursery chains in particular are big business, worth millions of pounds. Of the top ten providers of nursery places in the UK, nine are listed on...