Opinion: Large for-profit nursery groups are becoming more common - with negative consequences

Nursery - During the pandemic many day nurseries changed hands, increasing financial risk for day nursery groups and threatening childcare availability, say Associate Professor Antonia Simon (IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education & Society) and Professor Eva Lloyd (University of East London). High-quality early education and childcare can have a positive impact on children's wellbeing and life chances. The ability to combine work and care can benefit the whole family. But, for many parents, childcare costs are a significant drain on household income, and COVID-19 made childcare problems for families worse. Between April 1 2020 and July 31 2021, 5% of all registered providers in England closed permanently. In this difficult atmosphere, many day nurseries changed hands. The COVID-19 crisis encouraged rather than deterred the buying and selling of nurseries.