Research by nursery equipment suppliers The Consortium, exclusively for Nursery World, found that more than a third (37 per cent) of owners said the biggest threat to their business was parents no longer needing childcare because they had been made redundant.
Bad debt as financially-strapped parents struggled to pay nursery fees was the second biggest threat to sustainability.
Brian Potter, The Consortium's sales and marketing director, said, 'This is clearly a widespread practice which threatens early years settings' survival. Many of our respondents are calling for a direct payments systems to be introduced.'
One third of respondents wanted direct payments for tax credits to stop debtors who fail to pay their nursery fees.
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