Coronavirus: Three-quarters of nurseries will operate at a loss over the coming months

The snapshot survey of more than 520 respondents, ranging from single-site nurseries to chains operating at over 1,000 sites, found that settings planned to initially welcome back just over a third (35 percent) of their usual numbers, and that just under three-quarters (71 percent) expected to run at a loss from now until September.

With the reduced demand and increased costs associated with operating safely, a further 23 percent said that they would break even. And when asked about the coming months, 4 percent said that without more support they were likely to close permanently.

The results show the stark reality of how the Covid-19 outbreak will continue to impact on nurseries across England, even as they start to open to more children.

The survey was conducted with 528 respondents representing single site nurseries and those in groups or larger chains over the last four days.

It reveals that over 80 percent of respondents were planning to reopen from 1 June but 14 percent said that they planned to open at a later date.

A further 4 percent would only be looking after critical worker children or have already closed down permanently.

NDNA chief executive Purnima Tanuku said that a huge amount of work had gone into preparations for nurseries to operate safely and welcome more children from this week.

‘What we are seeing is nurseries and other childcare providers facing increased costs to make these changes and looking at much lower demand than usual for the coming weeks and months,’ she said.

‘It is clearly not sustainable to have almost three-quarters of providers running at a loss and most of the rest only just breaking even. The tragedy is that some settings have not been able to reopen and 4 percent are looking at potential closure in the near future. If this continues, more settings are bound to move from making a loss into considering closing as well.’

The NDNA is calling on the Government to ‘act now’ and bring in a recovery and transformation fund to help providers weather this challenging period. Local authorities have also said that they share the same concerns for the sustainability of early years.

Ms Tanuku added, ‘This type of fund is essential to support early years’ providers to be sustainable as demand for places slowly recovers.

‘Many nurseries and childcare providers have stayed open through this crisis to support critical workers keep our country going. If we want the economy to recover, we need a sustainable and viable childcare sector to ensure parents can work and children can access high quality early education.’

• Read one nursery's story of staying open during the coronavirus pandemic  here