Social Enterprise London (SEL) is currently working with Islington Childcare Trust to pilot a consortia model in childcare whereby providers can gain from economies of scale. Both organisations said they hoped that while helping build viable businesses the model would also create jobs and staff training and provide affordable childcare so that local parents could return to education or work.
The pilot project will explore opportunities to provide shared training facilities, recruitment and marketing policies for childcare providers as well as investigating the use of local exchange and trading schemes.
SEL and Islington Childcare Trust said they hoped to have a consortium of childcare operating in the borough by next year, which would include a range of providers such as day nurseries, creches and childminders. The consortium will be led by Islington Childcare Trust, which will organise the administration, training, recruitment and policy making of the groups to help them stay viable and ensure that there was good-quality, affordable childcare in the area.
Mei Yee Hui, SEL business development manager for childcare, said, 'We are promoting social enterprise and we have identified childcare as an important sector and have been looking at the economies of scale. At SEL we try to promote social ownership. By reducing costs in childcare businesses, the revenue can then be reinvested in the local community.
'We have looked to see where the high costs are, and identified that the sector suffers from high labour costs and that nursery managers are forced to spend a lot of their time on non-childcare issues, such as recruitment and marketing, which could be given to someone else.
'By using the consortia model nursery providers can come together so everyone can provide support for each other and get support from outside agencies. For example, when looking for a new nursery manager a specialist can be brought in to write the job description and advertise the position.'
Further information is available on the website http://childcare.sel.org.uk.