Nurseries face 'difficult balance', minister says

The politician with responsibility for nursery provision in Jersey has said she wants to "open lines of communication" with the sector to address challenges including staffing levels.

The Assistant Minister for Education, deputy Lucy Stephenson said she was due to meet those who had expressed concerns.

It comes ahead of the permanent closure of the Busy Bees Leeward Nursery in St Helier at the end of this week.

The Jersey Early Years Association (JEYA) has previously warned that the island does not have enough "appropriately qualified staff" to meet increasing demand.

In a statement, Busy Bees Leeward Nursery said it had "worked hard to find a way to keep the nursery open" but due to "ongoing challenges in recruiting the qualified early years staff needed to operate the nursery sustainably" it would have to close.

It said affected families had been offered places at other sites owned by Busy Bees.

In the States Assembly, Deputy Louise Doublet asked the assistant minister what could be done to ensure nursery workers receive a fair wage and conditions.

Stephenson said the annual Childcare Providers Survey consistently highlighted "recruitment and retention is a challenge".

However, she also said that "many providers were paying the living wage and offering other benefits to staff".

She said one of the key areas for government was "how it can help to upskill and the courses that are offered", and she was keen to "check in" with providers about what more could be done.

She told the BBC: "We can't expect government to have all the answers.

"I also would acknowledge it's quite a high-pressure job.

"I've got young children and I can only imagine how difficult it must be in a very, very busy early years setting."

Stephenson said there was a "difficult balance" to be struck "to have the incentive for people to enter the industry... but you need to keep the cost of childcare down".

One childcare provider who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC the closure of Busy Bees Leeward Nursery "illustrates the seriousness of the situation".

They said "recruiting from outside Jersey is increasingly difficult because of the island's high cost of living".

They added childcare workers were "skilled professionals" and "financial constraints make it extremely difficult to reward these professionals appropriately".

The result was the industry was "losing experienced practitioners to better-paid and less stressful employment elsewhere", they said.

While the provider said they support financial assistance for parents, they cautioned that there has been "no corresponding investment in the sector to address the underlying capacity and workforce challenges".

"There is a very real concern that the places simply will not be available, including for parents wishing to use the additional funding to increase the number of hours their children attend," they said.

Meanwhile, a nursery in Trinity said it had no problems with staffing and there were even people wanting to work there should a post become available.

The owner who runs Acorn Nursery School, Vicky Scarborough, said all the hours for their children who are aged between two and four were met by the government so childcare costs were also not an issue.

But she said the difference in how funded hours are administered for each age group remained an issue.

The government pays nurseries directly for funded hours for 3-4 year olds, reducing bills for families at the outset.

For 2-3 year olds, parents must pay the full cost of fees before claiming back funded hours.

Scarborough said: "It would be more practical and less stressful for the parents, and indeed easier for the government, if there was one form of administration to cover both areas of funding."

Previously JEYA warned "a number of providers... do not currently have additional capacity either to take more children or to offer additional hours to children already attending their settings".

JEYA Chair, Belinda Lewis said "increased financial support for parents will therefore not, by itself, necessarily translate into increased access to childcare".

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