Basingstoke nursery to remain open for children of key workers - despite it becoming financially unviable to do so

Busy Bees nursery, who have sites at Basingstoke and North Hampshire hospital as well as in Chineham and Hatch Warren, are no longer able to furlough staff and access the government's job retention scheme.

It comes after the latest guidance states that in certain situations nurseries will no longer be able to access the government support.

However, despite the situation becoming financially unviable, Busy Bees, who look after more than 55,000 children across the world, has decided to keep its hospital site open to look after the children of key workers.

Those that would normally attend the sites in Chineham and Hatch Warren can send their children to the hospital nursery, should they meet the key worker criteria.

Marg Randles, Busy Bees’ founder and chief academic officer, said: “The global Covid-19 pandemic has brought huge changes and challenges to everyone across the world, and while we continue to celebrate the incredible commitment of our NHS and key workers it is important to remember the part our dedicated nursery teams have to play in providing care, education and a little normality for children during these challenging times.

“For our Basingstoke nursery, we wanted to play our part and as much as we were able, do the right thing for key worker parents and the local community. So, while many nurseries took the decision to close because of Coronavirus, we felt there was a bigger picture and a longer game to be played.

“There has been much comment about a lack of places at nurseries for the children of key workers and criticism where providers have taken the difficult decision to close. It is easy to understand the frustration felt by those who need childcare and cannot access it, but also for many providers in the sector, difficult decisions have had to be taken.

“For us, we wanted to be part of a solution by keeping our nurseries open, despite it not being commercially viable for many of these centres, and not create further problems for under-pressure key worker parents and the Government by completely shutting up shop.

“Our commitment to those key workers putting themselves at risk is to support them in the battle against this dreadful virus by continuing to provide high quality childcare and give their children the best start in life – whatever the circumstances.”

The nursery are still accepting new enrolments for the children of key workers.

Initial guidance stated that providers could access the schemes, which led to many nurseries furloughing staff and closing temporarily, on the basis they would still receive funding.