Parents face a crisis in finding childcare as nurseries are pushed to the brink of closure amid rising costs and staff shortages.
Monkton Nursery School was the first nursery in Liverpool to offer combined day care and education when it opened in 1980. But owner Sue Poole, 68, said it's now the "worst time in 40 years to be a nursery".
With mounting costs pushing parents to the limit of what they can afford, she's not surprised nurseries are shutting down or reducing hours across the country. Sue said: "It all comes down to the national education funding that the government awards to three to five-year-olds, which doesn't come anywhere near covering the costs involved in running a nursery and educating children."
