Campaigners are calling for tougher regulation of the childcare market to safeguard taxpayers’ money, as new analysis shows more than £1 in every £5 spent at English nurseries backed by large investment companies ends up as profit.
Jeremy Hunt announced an extra £500m funding in last week’s budget, to help meet his promise of 30 hours a week of free childcare for under-threes by September next year – which he hopes will bring 60,000 parents back to work.
