The Department for Education and Skills heralded its arrival with the headline 'Hughes welcomes healthy childcare market', making reference to the 79,000 rise in full daycare places since 2003, the 23,000 increase in out-of-school places, and the improvements in staff qualification levels.
Others don't see it quite like that! The report also reveals the majority of daycare providers making a loss or at break-even at best, falls in occupancy levels, and staff paid very poor salaries despite nurseries spending nearly all their expenditure on wages. There are worrying implications for sustainability in the picture painted here. Yes, there has been lots of progress under the national childcare strategy, but these underlying problems must be tackled if momentum is to be maintained.
Further evidence of tough times for providers comes in our latest edition of Nursery Chains this week, with few of the biggest operators having expanded. It's more important than ever to prove that you are improving service quality -see how our featured companies are doing just that.
