A north Essex nursery manager has described how her staff and parents were ‘left in tears’ after hearing the childcare provision was going to shut. 

Donna Cope, manager of the Play Out Nursery at Steeple Bumpstead, said staff and parents were given a month’s notice of the closure in November, leaving all concerned with the ‘nightmare’ of having to either find work or alternative child care in the run-up to Christmas. 

The nursery is due to shut this Friday, December 16. 

She said: “We have just employed a new member of staff in October. It has literally come out of the blue. We have found out the day before the staff and we have had to tell them that they are losing their jobs right before Christmas.” 

She added some parents were now having to send their children to pre-schools because all the nursery provision in the area was full, meaning they were having to reduce their working hours to between 9.15am and 3.15pm so they could look after their children. 

“I have had my staff in tears and parents in tears because they literally don’t know what to do,” Donna added. 

A spokesperson for Play Out Nurseries said the provision was being cut due to a number of reasons, including the current economic climate and underfunding of the childcare sector by the Government. 

As well as the Steeple Bumpstead nursery, another nursery at Hadleigh is also set to close. 

He said: “We are deeply saddened that Play Out Nurseries in Hadleigh and Steeple Bumpstead are to permanently close on Friday December 16. 

“We understand this closure will have a significant impact on families and have given them as much notice as possible in order to help them make alternative childcare arrangements. We are also supporting staff to find alternative employment. 

“The current economic climate, impact of Covid, recruitment challenges, falling occupancy rates and underfunding of the government’s 15 and 30-hour childcare schemes have left the nurseries in an unsustainable situation – an impact seen across the childcare sector.”