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Nurseries need financial training to survive

Nurseries should offer financial training to all their nursery staff, which would help them run their setting in a more sustainable way and allow them to pass savings on to parents, the finance director of a leading nursery group has said.

Neil Fenton, director of finance and social enterprise at London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), said that there is a lot of ‘wastage’ in some nurseries, which could ultimately put them out of business.

But he added that this trend could be reversed ‘if nurseries see what a sustainable business looks like’.

He says that if managers and owners are taught how to manage their finances correctly they could pass the savings onto parents by reducing fees, making provision more affordable and accessible for families.

The director of finance and social enterprise implied that lots of people who open a nursery do so because they love children not because they are business-minded, and argues that in order to start a nursery, owners need both a love of children and some level of business acumen.

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