Investment funds ultimately own nearly 81,500 childcare places in England – almost double the 2018 total:^1
>Mike Short, the head of education at Unison, said many parents relied on privately owned nurseries for their childcare that needed to make money to survive.
>He said: “If these companies don’t make money, they go under. But once private equity firms become involved, the pursuit of profit is ruthless and on a whole new level. The structure of equity-funded nurseries is so complex, often with hundreds of subsidiary companies created, that it’s almost impossible to fathom where the cash is going.”
>[…]
>Private equity and venture capital firms have made at least 500 investments – including acquisitions, mergers and buyouts – in the UK early years and childcare sector in the last decade, with 112 of those taking place in 2022, separate Guardian analysis of the venture capital database PitchBook reveals.
3 comments
Investment funds ultimately own nearly 81,500 childcare places in England – almost double the 2018 total:^1
>Mike Short, the head of education at Unison, said many parents relied on privately owned nurseries for their childcare that needed to make money to survive.
>He said: “If these companies don’t make money, they go under. But once private equity firms become involved, the pursuit of profit is ruthless and on a whole new level. The structure of equity-funded nurseries is so complex, often with hundreds of subsidiary companies created, that it’s almost impossible to fathom where the cash is going.”
>[…]
>Private equity and venture capital firms have made at least 500 investments – including acquisitions, mergers and buyouts – in the UK early years and childcare sector in the last decade, with 112 of those taking place in 2022, separate Guardian analysis of the venture capital database PitchBook reveals.
^1 Carmen Aguilar García, Michael Goodier, Alexandra Topping, and Heather Stewart (5 Aug. 2023), “Childcare sector in England must not become ‘playground for private equity’, experts say”, https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/aug/04/childcare-sector-england-not-playground-private-equity-experts-say
I mean, a months childcare pays the salary of 1 caretaker, and there’s what, maybe 1 caretaker per 10 children (I don’t know, I don’t have kids).
Childcare absolutely _rakes_ in the profits month on month.
It just never gets to the staff, and parents can’t choose to not pay it, if they want to keep career growth.
**Spoiler**
It will.
There is money to be made by cutting staff and giving a shit service. That’s the main focus of the Tory government.