News

Troubled Edinburgh nursery goes to receivers

An Edinburgh nursery has gone into receivership amid financial problems and following a number of complaints to the Care Commission.

Owner and managing director Monica Langa has been running Prime Time Nurseries in Edinburgh city centre for seven years.

A spokesman for the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care said, 'We are aware that Prime Time Nurseries has gone into receivership and we are monitoring the situation.'

The chartered accountants Johnston Carmichael have been appointed as the receivers and are currently trying to find another buyer for the Edinburgh nursery.

Ms Langa has been planning to expand and open a new 120-place nursery in October in Maxim, a £330m office park situated between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

As Nursery World reported, she has already taken bookings with deposits from people working at the new business park and started recruiting senior staff (Work Matters, 3 September).

Prime Time's Edinburgh nursery was last inspected in October 2008 and its management and leadership were found to be 'weak'.

Inspectors found that lack of staff prevented children from going outside on a daily basis and that there was a high staff turnover.

The Care Commission also received four complaints about the nursery this summer, ranging from the nursery having insufficient staff and dirty carpets to children being left in wet clothes.

'Most of the elements of the complaints were effectively upheld and there were no closure issues,' a Care Commission spokesperson said. 'But we did ask for the nursery to make improvements in some areas.'

One parent who lodged a complaint said, 'One of the rooms went through eight staff in a period of two months and if food got spilt on the floor it was just left lying there and nobody bothered to clear it up.'

At the time that Nursery World went to press this week, Maxim Office Park had not received any notification from Prime Time Nurseries of a change in plans.