CHILDCARE IN CRISIS WHILE CEOs RAKE IN CASH Mega-rich bosses live high life while THEIR nurseries are putting tots at ‘significant risk’
INVESTIGATES
THREE of the UK’s biggest nursery chains have been slapped with poor safety reports while their fat cat bosses merrily live the high life.
An investigation uncovered scores of official concerns and complaints with tots becoming ill, left in dangerous situations and even dying.
Our probe comes a week after the Government unveiled plans to increase childcare payments to nurseries by 30%.
And the easing of staff-to-child ratios to one adult to five kids sparked warnings quality will be driven down.
The top 25 chains in the UK have already seen a drop in the number of nurseries scoring top marks, according to early years website Nursery World.
Netherlands-based Waterland Private Equity is behind two top chains – Just Childcare and All About Children, which run 101 nurseries.
The groups have landed 31 official concerns and complaints from regulator Ofsted.
And a string of nurseries were found to have
violated care quality, according to website Violation Tracker UK. One child was scalded by hot soup, while another wandered off the premises alone.
Inspectors noted kids were left without drinking water, some play equipment was unsafe, and staff lacked up-to-date safeguarding knowledge.
At least three nurseries closed after inadequate inspection reports, and 35 have not been checked for at least three years, including a Foreign Office crèche.
Waterland boss Rob Thielen – who donated £50,000 to the Tories in 2016 – and his Russian model wife Irina live in a mansion in Monaco and a £16million Mayfair townhouse.
The Dutch tycoon – who owns a string of other firms – is worth an estimated £300million and splashed out £37million on a superyacht, says boating website SuperYachtFan.
One unhappy parent said Mr Thielen’s companies “care more about denying responsibility than childcare”, adding: “We’ve removed our child from a nursery run by Just Childcare due to a poorly managed incident in which our baby became ill with heat exhaustion.
“Just Childcare handled this extremely unprofessionally, ultimately denying any responsibility for our child becoming unwell during their care and astonishingly even going so far as to deny the doctor’s diagnosis.”
Bright Horizons, which owns 275 nurseries across the UK, was subject to more than 130 official concerns and complaints. The chain was fined £800,000 last year after a tot choked to death on a piece of mango.
Millionaire boss Stephen Kramer believes “everyone at every age deserves a great education”. But four
of his firm’s nurseries got enforcement notices since July 2021, and 10 got the worst “inadequate” and “requires improvement” Ofsted scores.
Some 118 have not been inspected for four years or more, while six are yet to be viewed at all.
Mum-of-two Deka Yusuf removed her son from a Bright Horizons nursery after he lost 3kg.
The 37-year-old, from Islington, North London, said: “My son didn’t like the food on offer, but instead of offering him an alternative the staff left him to go hungry for eight hours. Bright Horizons do not care.”
Mr Kramer and his family live in a £3.5million property in Massachusetts, in the US. Pics posted on the tycoon’s wife’s Facebook show the mogul enjoys the finer things in life.
Another boss living in the lap of luxury is Jean-Charles Douin, who heads the UK’s biggest nursery chain, Busy Bees, with 379 facilities caring for 32,000 kids.
The group has received 123 concerns and complaints since 2017. One tot with allergies was given the wrong food; another was found with a sterilising tablet in their mouth.
And inspectors noted staff failed to respond to signs of abuse and neglect. Mr
Douin’s property portfolio boasts a £1.5million flat in West London’s posh Notting Hill.
Helen Hayes, Shadow children and early years Minister, said families would be outraged that wealthy overseas shareholders had been raking in huge profits while parents faced soaring costs. She added: “Parents rightly expect quality care for their children, but the Conservatives’ plans deliver the opposite with a cut to staff ratios and nothing to say on the skilled workforce we need.
“Simply increasing the hours entitlement without a plan to increase availability risks driving demand up and quality down.”
A Just Childcare spokesman said: “As an organisation, we are committed to providing quality childcare and we’re working closely with both the existing members of the Just Childcare and All About Children teams as well as recently appointed team members, brought onboard to ensure a higher standard of care across all locations.”
Busy Bees said: “We are committed to continually improving the care we provide across all our centres and work closely with Ofsted to do this.”
Bright Horizons said: “The children’s needs are our priority and we work with parents and families to continually improve our service standards and incorporate new learnings into our training and procedures.”