Across Britain nurseries provided by contracted service providers located on HMRC sites are closing down or have been closed down.
This does not marry well with the spirit of the governments/Nick Clegg's priority, 'The delivery of good quality, affordable childcare is one of Nick Clegg's biggest priorities in Government (spokesperson for Nick Clegg, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/10045552/Nick-Clegg-blocking-Coalition-plans-to-relax-rules-on-childcare.html, 2013).'
These services are not subsidised, workers pay for their children to attend these nurseries. The advantage to the parents from the onsite nurseries are the proximity to their workplace saving them and their employer valuable time and maximising the amount of time they spend with their children, enhancing work life balance.
What sort of message does the closure of these nurseries send to private companies in Britain about the attitude they should take on such matters.
Workers at these sites may have to reduce their hours to adjust to the changes in childcare. Part time workers may have to stop work all together due to the reduced hours working resulting from them travelling to and from the new location of their childcare.
How is this promoting the interests of parents and their children's work life balance?
How is this protecting the children attending these services?
A link to an article about the latest closures:
www.sunderlandecho.com/news/education/sunderland-civil-servants-set-to-lose-childcare-service-1-5664701