24/7 nursery refused at the eleventh hour

In June 2003, Jumping Jacks children's centre in Wigton, Cumbria, was awarded £80,000 from the Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative scheme to set up a 24-hour care facility. But three weeks before the setting was due to open, Ofsted said it would have to register as a children's home in order to provide the service.

Manager and owner Jane Crawford said she was 'gutted' when she heard the news. She had spent the past nine months refurbishing the centre's top floor to create six rooms for 20 children aged nought to 14 years.

Ms Crawford said, 'It was so unexpected. We worked really closely with Ofsted throughout the course of the project to make sure we met all the regulations regarding safety issues, and we built up a good relationship with our inspector.'

After seeking legal advice, Ms Crawford has decided not to appeal against the decision. She said, 'We can see no way around the issue. The guidelines state 24-hour care. In many situations, children would be in our care for more than 24 hours. With nursery care and going to school, this could amount to a maximum of 48 hours.'

She had no option but to 'buckle down and make use of the facility as it is', Ms Crawford said. 'We have a beautiful new building with no one in it.

I have a large bank loan to pay off and there are a lot of shift workers in the area who need extra care for their children. I also have four members of staff - I hired seven for the new provision, but could only keep on four.'

The setting was due to be registered this week. But its hours will be extended until 9pm on weekdays and open at weekends.

Ms Crawford said the Government needed to find a way to allow this type of service to be registered, and while she understood it didn't fit into the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Healthcare Commission or Ofsted guidelines, 'we need a box for this service to fit in'.

A DfES spokesman said, 'The nursery in question is registered, open and providing places. Any further proposals to extend provision, such as overnight care, is a regulatory issue and a matter for Ofsted and the Commission.'

An Ofsted spokeswoman said it could not comment on individual cases, but described overnight care as a 'complex issue' that required consultation with 'other regulatory bodies'.

Before the introduction of the national standards for under-eights care in England in September 2001, any nursery providing overnight care was classed as a children's home and monitored by local authority social services.