Hundreds of nursery schools could close next year without government funding, MP warns

'Virtually all nursery schools are at risk of closure without supplementary funding'

Tens of thousands of children across England could be left without care (Getty)

Hundreds of council-run nursery schools could close next year, it has been warned, after a new analysis reveals that more than a fifth already have budgets in the red.

Tens of thousands of children across England could be left without care if nursery schools are forced to close their doors amid a lack of funding, a former shadow education secretary has warned.

Maintained nursery schools could lose approximately a third of their funding next year if the government fails to urgently safeguard funding beyond 2020, according to recent research.

There are currently 392 council-run nursery schools in England, which look after two- to four-year-olds, and the vast majority are situated in the most deprived areas of the country.

The proportion of nursery schools in budget deficit is nearly six times higher than it was in 2010, an analysis of government spending figures by former shadow education secretary Lucy Powell found.

All 392 schools, which look after approximately 40,000 children, are at risk of closure if the funding situation is not resolved in 2020, Ms Powell has warned.

The analysis has been released ahead of a Commons debate on Thursday where MPs are due to warn that the life chances of the most vulnerable children could be threatened by closures.

It comes after 71 MPs, including 12 Conservatives, signed a letter to ministers in September last year urging them to take urgent action to secure additional funding for nursery schools in the future.

The government has committed to supplementary funding of around £60m per year for nursery schools until 2019-2020. But no guarantee on funding has been given after 2020, leaving maintained nursery schools unable to plan and budget for the future.

Ms Powell, who is chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Nursery Schools, Nursery and Reception Classes, said: “The loss of maintained nursery schools would be a terrible act of social vandalism.

“Unless action is taken we could see the mass closure of these vital institutions, with tens of thousands of children losing the specialist care that is making all the difference in closing the social mobility gap.

“Whilst we often hear warm words about the excellent education nursery schools provide, this needs to be urgently backed up by secure, long term funding, so that we can safeguard the future of nursery schools across the country.”

Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of national early years charity Early Education, said: “Without the supplementary funding virtually all nursery schools are at risk of closure.

“Most have been through multiple rounds of funding cuts already, have restructured and cut costs wherever they can, and in an increasing number of cases now have recurrent deficits, so trying to find ways to cope with the loss of an average of a third of their budgets is just untenable.”

Nadhim Zahawi, minister for children and families, said: “We want every child to have the best start in life, which is why we are spending more money than ever before to support early years education and childcare – around £6bn a year by 2020.

“However, we recognise the need to monitor costs and the childcare provider market.

“Maintained nursery schools make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children, which is why we are providing local authorities with around £60m a year up until 2019-2020 to protect maintained nursery schools funding.

“The position beyond this will be determined by the next spending review.”