Pledge to create thousands more nursery places has backfired, early years groups say

Alison Wilkinson of Hatchell Wood Preschool, Doncaster, inside the new nursery premises before renovation. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer

A government pledge to create more nurseries has backfired, according to early years providers. More than a dozen schools are evicting ­existing preschool providers that operate in classrooms amid concerns they are doing so to access state funding to set up their own provision.

It means that the pledge to create thousands of nursery places may be fulfilled by cannibalising some of the existing preschools, according to the Early Years Alliance (EYA).