COVID-19 and Childcare – Why Many Nurseries will Struggle to Weather the Storm
Many schools, as well as all nurseries, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and have been shut down for a large part of the year. For a long time, they could stay open, only to admit vulnerable children or children of key workers. In the UK, the problem is that many of these childcare provisions and nurseries are delivered and funded in different ways, from school nurseries to private bilingual nurseries. Therefore, the impact on the staff, parents, children, and others will vary depending upon the nursery. In particular, when a nursery is effectively a business, threats of permanent closure can arise, especially if a nursery goes into debt.
Variation in Nursery Provision
There are some businesses that focus on education and childhood care that receive their funding from state schools, but there are those that are privately funded. Free to parents, nursery education is part of state …