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Childcare toolkit

Running a day care nursery business

Childcare challenges

Childcare businesses in the UK have faced many challenges in recent years including hybrid working structures, operating constraints, child welfare, staff retention and stressed cashflow. As all of these combine it’s easy to see why it’s tough being the owner of a childcare business.

 

Supporting childcare businesses

So you can navigate these challenges and opportunities, we’ve developed a childcare sector management toolkit to help fine-tune your business.

"The Early Years Sector (covering pregnancy through to age 5) plays a crucial role in supporting both the UK economy and importantly the cognitive development of children. The provision of quality childcare, social interaction and early edcuation enables parents to participate in the workforce. Addtionally Early Years Education is instrumental in shaping the development trajectories of children."

Barrie Davison - Head of Healthcare, Education, Public Bodies and Charities

What’s in the toolkit?

Use the toolkit (in the form of an eBook) to help you identify what changes are relevant to your business, then adjust and improve.
 

It contains the following chapters:

  1. 01

    Strengthen the foundations

    The more resilient your business is to outside forces, the easier it will be to manage and grow your business to where you want it to be.

  2. 02

    Business planning

    Planning will help you navigate looming obstacles and identify any roadblocks you must avoid or manage.

  3. 03

    Raising funding and finance

    You may need to raise additional funds to solve a temporary cash flow crisis, invest in new facilities, build capacity or future proof your business.

  4. 04

    Steps to improve profit

    It can be difficult to find a way to increase profit when there are set ratios of staff to children, pricing is sensitive, and there’s only so much space at your location to grow.

  5. 05

    Marketing strategies

    You can do lots to discover what’s happening in your chosen market. Search for your main competitors, what they say and offer, their comparative prices and services, events, and activities.

  6. 06

    Develop expansion strategies

    If you’ve exhausted the growth opportunities in your local area, or your existing market feels flat, purchasing or merging with other businesses can increase market share and economies of scale.

  7. 07

    Solving the staff shortage

    High staff turnover can be disruptive, soaking up your time. How you treat your employees influences who wants to work for you, and how long for.

Useful tools

To complement our childcare toolkit we’ve created some useful tools including a business plan template, cashflow template and a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) template for you to complete.

Get in touch

If you have any questions about our toolkit, or would like advice on starting a childcare business, our Head of Healthcare, Education, Public Bodies and Charities, Barrie Davison can help.

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Support for your business

Startup hub

Have you got a great idea for a new business? We're here to help with everything you need to get started. Plus, we'll introduce you to managing your finances and show you how market research could help you grow.

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We’ve developed Business Builder to support businesses and entrepreneurs at all stages, whether you’re just starting out or are an established business looking to make a change.

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