Cost of living: Nursery opens every day to help struggling staff

A nursery is to open seven days a week to help staff who are financially struggling.

Mumbles Day Nursery, which has sites in Sandon and Stone, Staffordshire, said it had made the move after staff had started looking for second jobs.

The only way to help was to increase working hours, manager Sam Prinold said.

The government said it had introduced a range of measures to help with rising costs.

The nursery said it would start hosting everything from children's parties to forest school sessions in the new year.

Staff member Daniel Harris said he was "really feeling the pinch" and had started to look for a second job when faced with rising bills.

"I never thought I'd be in this situation," he said.

Finding it difficult to find suitable jobs which would work in addition to his day job, he spoke to managers who started looking at options.

Mr Harris said he had chosen childcare for the love of the job rather than the salary it paid, but said: "It's very scary for people my age, but it's something we have to adapt to and overcome."

Ms Prinold said, as a business, it was facing challenging times, from an increase in bills through to a "really worrying" rise in the minimum wage which will be introduced in April 2023. The nursery was unable to sustain pay increases, she added.

Paid-for sessions for toddlers and their families will not just supplement staff income but also help the business in the long run, she said.

"Our staff explained to us that they are struggling for money and the only way we can support them with that is doing more hours.

"We're going to be offering weekend work for our staff, it will include forest school sessions, dance classes, [hosting] parties, science classes - anything we can do to offer our staff more hours and open seven days," the manager said.

She added they were "having to be really careful" about increasing nursery fees as they were aware many families were feeling the effects of rising bills.

Families are also feeling the pinch. Mum-of-two Sarah, from Stafford, said she had been left with no choice but to leave her career as a specialist care worker because her wage did not cover childcare costs.

"I started trying to find a job which meant I could work evenings and weekends and we split the childcare between me and my partner Chris," she said.

However, the changes have come at a cost for the family.

"It's just a sacrifice. We lose our evenings and weekends as a family. In the long run for the family, it is the only thing we could do."

Noah, who turns three in December, will be eligible for 30 hours' free childcare. In the meantime Sarah's mum pays for him to go to a local nursery one day a week, to help him socialise with children his own age. Sarah's other child, Ellie, is 11 months old.

"I love being a mum and being able to stay at home with the kids, but childcare costs definitely play a huge fact on that, and I think they do for everyone," she said.

Sarah worries that as costs continue to rise, neither of their salaries have gone up - "it's all just so tough at the moment".

The government has said energy costs are rising across the world.

"The government's energy price guarantee will save the typical household around £700 this winter, based on what energy prices would have been under the current price cap - reducing bills by roughly a third," a spokesman said.

An extra £1,200 of cost-of-living support is being made available to vulnerable households and the previously planned rise in national insurance contributions has been reversed.

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