Council expected to seek private sector takeover of day nurseries

Birmingham City Council is expected to begin looking for businesses or other organisations to take over its 14 day nurseries shortly.

It expects to have a deficit of nearly £1m this year from their operation, despite one-off funding of £500,000.

A proposal by trade union GMB to run the nurseries as a social enterprise has been assessed as “not viable”.

Birmingham City Council’s cabinet will consider a proposal next week to withdraw from operating the nurseries.

Cllr Kate Booth, cabinet member for children’s wellbeing, said: “As a city council we have a duty to ensure there are enough nursery places available in the right locations across the city.

“There are currently lots of vacancies in nursery settings in all of the areas where our 14 council-run nurseries operate, and we know through discussions with other providers there is a great deal of interest in taking over these nurseries.”

The 14 council-run nurseries account for 4% of the day nursery provision in Birmingham. However each of the 14 sites are currently losing money.