The Soho Family Centre, based in the basement and ground floor area of a block of Housing Association flats just off Piccadilly Circus, was inspected by Ofsted last November and later was told that what it has been doing for the past 16 years was illegal and that if it wanted to continue providing daycare in the area it would have to register as a day nursery.
The centre is unhappy at the Ofsted ruling and is appealing it. The centre's director, Andy Elvin, said, 'We went to the Department for Education and Skills to ask for changes in the law to allow this scheme to continue. It suggested we set up a childminding network, which is essentially what we are doing here. But Ofsted's argument is that we are not a domestic premises and so must be a day nursery.'
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