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EXCLUSIVE: Coronavirus forced childcare providers to take dire action, study shows

Covid has seen professionals cut staff, use reserves and even sell belongings, but researchers say an early years education and care-led recovery is now vital, as Katy Morton reports
Covid has accelerated serious sustainability and access issues
Covid has accelerated serious sustainability and access issues

Childminders and nannies resorted to selling personal belongings and borrowing money from family and friends to boost their income during the height of the pandemic.

New research into early years care and education during Covid-19 by Leeds University reveals the financial impact of the pandemic on providers and the lengths they took to increase their household income due to salary losses.

Measures included selling personal possessions such as cars, borrowing money and applying for universal credit for childminders and nannies, while nurseries drew on reserves, changed staff contract conditions and took on debt.

Dr Katy Hardy, lead author with Professor Jennifer Tomlinson, told Nursery World, ‘It is well known that many of the issues identified preceded the pandemic, but Covid-19 has served to accelerate really serious problems relating to sustainability, morale and access.

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