The 2007 Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey carried out for the DCSF by BMRB found that the financial position of providers had ‘worsened', with the number of children's centre nurseries losing money rising from 37 per cent in 2006 to 52 per cent last year, while only 7 per cent made a profit.
It also revealed that daycare settings in children's centres had the highest average annual expenditure - £196,000 compared to £116,000 in childcare settings overall - and paid their staff an average of £9.30 an hour while employees of other full daycare providers earned an average of £6.90.
Steve Alexander, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance (PLA), said the ‘pressing issue of sustainability' had been brought into ‘sharp focus by the findings'. The charity's ‘overarching concern' was that childcare providers were ‘paying the price of inconsistent intervention in the childcare "market".'
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