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We are being told by so-called industry experts that 2021 was one of resilience and rebound for childcare businesses.

And that the childcare business is booming in 2022 and will do so beyond that. Beware, I say, is this another case of the emperor’s new clothes?

Yes, the childcare sector has been remarkable in its survival against unprecedented pressure and unpredictable social and economic conditions. Anyone that has led a setting during recent months has my full and unyielding respect for that. Sustainability has so far been supported by full payment of early years funding throughout the most difficult months of lockdown. That isn’t the case now of course. But that is only half the picture. All types of settings rely upon paid-for childcare fees to balance the books of their business models, and not all services are fundable as early years, not least babies, pre-twos, and out-of-school childcare for the over fives. 

Demand and ability to pay for childcare reduced significantly in the early days of the pandemic, disappearing completely for some, and it has slowly and steadily started to return to pre-pandemic levels. But many families are rethinking their working patterns, locations and preferences, and are reprofiling their childcare needs to suit, all within the context of fast rising costs of living.  

No one knows for sure how the dust will settle, and when. There are areas and indeed settings that have bounced-back well, grown even, some have plateaued, and some have yet to see recovery anywhere near what is needed for their long-term sustainability. Clearly, we have some winners and some losers. For some this is luck, the toast has landed butter side up, others haven’t been so fortunate.

These factors all result in further squeezes to the financial margins and realities of operating childcare businesses, and the emotional and physical resolve of those charged with leading and managing them and what appears to be a weakening workforce. Settings can become constrained, tired, stressed and trapped in a whirlwind of workforce capacity, financial pressures, and operating restrictions. 

Step forward the new money. The opportunities have been growing for those concerned with expanding their chains and using the funds of global and/or equity fund investors to reap healthy pay-offs in the future.

We are told £500m plus was the value of acquisitions last year, I think that is an underestimate and the tip of quite a large iceberg that has broken away from the arctic shelf. It is the voices of investors that tell us the market is booming.  What they are saying is their businesses are benefiting from these market trends. There is little doubt this will continue as more and more settings reach the point of no return, and the top chains grow and grow as a result of taking them on. 

Now, I am all for change, for market forces, and for settings adapting and developing their models to best suit what is needed and demanded. 

I welcome chains and their contribution to the sector. I can see the merits and the more sensible features of them like overarching management, training and development, and quality improvement. But there are caveats, I worry what this could be masking and what the risks are when what could happen next actually happens.  

Location, location, location will be vitally important as market demands shift. Some settings are more able to move nimbly towards geographical needs, others cannot. And so, we will see more openings and more closures. All this whilst the sector becomes even more polarised in its diversity. 

How can you compare a home-based childminder with a multi-national multi-million-pound operation? You can’t. 

In the longer term I wonder how sustainable this all is. Will we see the collapse of the sector in isolated or low-income communities and will we see the demise of the community pre-school?  

Will this occur concurrently with the rising dominance of a nationalised sector run by the private sector?  

And what would happen if one of them was to fold? Whatever next, someone somewhere needs to be thinking the long-term implications through very carefully because we could be storing up lots of trouble for later. 

This blog was first published by https://www.cypnow.co.uk/blogs/article/nursery-market-hype-is-hiding-an-inconvenient-truth

We have all heard of the importance of wellbeing and our own self-care.  Our own understanding varies of course, as do the ways we plan and prepare for our wellbeing and what we do when things go awry.

We are used to change.  We have to be.  But change is unpredictable and has many effects on our physical and emotional wellbeing.  Change that we can brush off one day, can feel impossibly difficult the next.  Recently, we have all been through a prolonged, unprecedented and traumatic period of change.  We have all navigated new risks, uncertainties, and worries about our health and that of our loved ones, our jobs, money, and climate concerns add to sky-rocketing levels of anxiety, piled onto already stressful lives.  All of this has resulted in us living and working in different ways.  We may have stayed in much more, and worked or lived in greater isolation.  We have absorbed all of this, together with the ripples of the responses of others around us into our emotional containers.  Those imaginary bucket-like vessels we carry around us that get topped up with the emotions and feelings others share and we take on consciously or subconsciously.  We may not yet be fully aware of the toll it is taking. 

We can cope.  Indeed, we can thrive.  And that means us being boundaried and balanced, with the benefit of our own support mechanisms around us.  We need to recognise the signs when things are out of kilter, and deploy the tricks and techniques to do something about it.  This is where deliberately investing in self care comes in.  I like to call it having a ‘business plan for self’.  You might want to call it something else, like a personal plan, a list – or whatever works for you.

Every plan should start with a review of your pre-starting position.  What has made you, you?  Some people call this your history, patterns, blueprints, scripts; it’s what you are carrying with you from what happened before.  You may need to put some work in here, and help may be required.

Then ask yourself what is ‘now’ – your starting position.  Some helpful questions are:  What would be useful to let go of?  What are the things to process and work out?  How emotionally invested are you?  What physical investment is needed?  What things do you need to let in, or what blocks need to be removed?  And what things can you give out to the world (because lots of songs and poets have told us the more we give the more we’ll have).

A plan’s structure and contents are a matter of personal choice and priorities may change from time-to-time.  There are some key themes that I consider important though.  The first is to be aware of stress and how to notice it yourself and in others.  It is important to also know how to prevent it, which is a key aim of such a plan.  And how you respond to it – what are your instincts and patterns, and what positive directions can you take?  Be able to notice your freeze, fight and flight reflexes.  If you are unsure about all of this, read, do some online training or attend a course.  It is worth the investment. 

All of that gives a great foundation to setting your response and resilience mindset.  And then there are all sorts of actions and behaviours that I find key.  A plan needs steps along the way, small victories and achievements, or milestones to celebrate and remind you of progress towards whatever the end goals might be, if there are goals. 

I love everything about managing time.  It gives me great comfort and muffles all the noise around me.  Therapy has made the realise why that might be.  Time management is about taking control and making time for the things that you want to spend time on, creating new routines and variety, and (more or less) social interaction.  And that includes making time for sleep and making time to get ready for sleep.  In our earliest years, our parents may have used all sorts of sleep-readiness-routines to help us have a good night’s sleep.  In our later childhood and early adulthood, we may not have needed to apply such efforts, but the older we get and the busier we become, we perhaps (I am pretty sure we do) need to put conscious and determined efforts into managing our sleep.  That’s a key element of the part of your plan that acknowledges your age and stage of life and what changes that brings – not only in terms of health, but activities and responsibilities too (such as elder care).  All of these changes should not be unthinkingly merged into what you are doing.  I don’t think you can merely add all of that to your regular ‘to do’ list, instead they need to be factored into your regular review and planning cycle.

Investing in self and treating ‘you’ as a business includes considering what you are putting in, like food and drink, learning, growth, experiences, physical exercise, and emotional care.  There needs to be a budget, it doesn’t need to be big, but like any budget it needs to be quantified and managed.  Not just a budget for the objectives and activities in the plan, but for all of life and work.  Because all of that increases your ability to manage expectations and take benefits from the business, things like your health, friendships, interests, happiness, relationships and romance, for example.   

Health is an obvious consideration, that should include physical and emotional wellbeing.  This is about managing and responding to existing health.  But it is also about managing your health in the future by taking preventative action through things like diet and exercise.  A good social life is vital.  There are times in life when we should evaluate and review who in our friends and family circle are needed or wanted moving forward.  Is it time to change the frequency and type of engagement you have together?  Are there people in your social circle who aren’t good for you, and distance would help?  When it comes to romance and relationships, it is entirely possible and acceptable to have a plan that doesn’t require being in a relationship, whether that be a short-, medium- or long-term one.  But every plan should feature solid, supportive and rich relationships with others.  Even if it is with the dog.   

We’ve heard about the importance of learning in the nourishment of life and feeling good.  There should always be something in your plan that is about learning something new.  It need not be a PHD in neuroscience, or circus skills.  It could be a new recipe, a new dance move, or reading a new book.

Let’s not be too serious.  There’s plenty of time to have fun.  But fun is a serious business.  Having fun isn’t always a spontaneous activity, it needs to be something you plan for.  And allow yourself time for.  Go on, let go, once in a while. 

You may not work, but if you do, what are your goals and aspirations whilst you are there?  What are you taking control of and aiming for, beyond what you are being told to do by others? 

And last but not least, finances.  These can be the bedrock of feelings of anxiety and despair, or they can offer you freedom and control.  Some people love to manage their finances, some hate it.  Whatever, finances are something you cannot ignore.  Get help if you need to.  But make sure you plan them. 

A business plan for self, offers real opportunity to reflect on what has been, and who we are.  It helps us to identify where we are now and plot the direction of travel for our next phases of life and/or work.  And it helps us become the people we want to be, living the way we want to live.  I recommend. 

These days I mostly spend five days a week sat at my desk.  Typing away frantically or attending on-screen meetings.  This is a big change to how things used to be for me.  On a typical week, I might have travelled into London for face-to-face meetings a couple of days a week.  Perhaps on another day I would have driven somewhere else for a meeting, a conference speech, or the delivery of training, for example.  The time in between might have included a little bit of catching up with emails and calls from home.  That would leave about one or two days a week to spend in the office.  That was important and focused time to prepare, wrap up, and connect with colleagues.

With almost all face-to-face delivery still on pause, travel restrictions, our commitment to helping our organisations and colleagues work through these difficulties, and our growing love affair with Zoom and Teams, there is a whole new routine.  And it has many benefits, but like anything good, there is a downside as well.  And that includes a lack of variety, and real feeling of each day being almost the same – just like groundhog day.  It starts and ends with the same commute, and each day is filled with the same faces (lovely as they are), most of whom are appearing one-dimensionally online.  Work patterns and styles have changed and have pushed many of us into new ways of working, some of us are out of our comfort zones and away from our preferences.

Strangely, life seems slower and faster in equal measure.  I am no longer driving on the motorway or travelling on the superfast train, my 10-minute walk to work is contemplative and leisurely.  It is sometimes social if I am lucky enough to bump into a friend, or I can multi-task by shopping, posting a letter or whatever. I will no doubt look back with fondness at this time, so I must take the time to value it now. The office is emptier and quieter, our absence is much more keenly felt in a reduced team, and so being present has grown a bigger value.  Time stretches generously, and it is much more likely I get to complete my job list for the day, for the week for that matter, with greater ease than before. 

Somethings have become faster though.  I can leave a monthly contract meeting (that previously would have been held in London and included three hours travel and some other downtime), and instantly, like a time traveller, like Marty McFly even, I am back at my desk, in my office, in my home town, and only 10-minutes from home.  That sounds super-efficient, doesn’t it?  What a wonderful opportunity to do more!  That’s the familiar (and disappointing) instinct of the dullest of managers.  But wait, where is my recovery time, the time to contemplate what just happened, the reflection on thoughts, the time spent with imaginative ideas, all done whilst I stared out of the train window or when sat in traffic?  All of which are fuel for innovation, creativity and joy. 

In response, I have learned to slow down, to be my own architect of my day – much more than before.  I have built in different breaks, conscious reflection time, physical movement, and a realistic and contemporary approach to workload design and delivery.  I have avoided the temptation to max out my week, but I have taken advantage of the additional time I have available.  That time needs to be repurposed in the plan for ‘me’.  As a result, I have never written so much, and so creatively, which has been delightful, I have rarely had to reschedule sessions at the gym, managing to make it at least twice a week, and I have felt ahead at work in many ways, opening up much more time for planning and strategy and deliberate direction-setting.  I look forward to all that growing and developing more in 2022, and my resisting any temptation (or dull management instruction) to revert to old habits later.  I am going to slow down, to do more. To be more tortoise and less hare.

It is all too easy to think in the here-and-now, but what can we expect work to be like in 2022?  I can see the need to be fleet-of-foot, value-able, point-full, courageous, and open.  Read on…

The past two years have fast-forwarded many of the emerging trends that previously were ticking over at a slower speed and gradually gaining momentum.  COVID-19 and its effects on our working methods, patterns and aspirations has turbo-charged change.  Everything is changing quickly: attitudes, technology, politics, opinions, trends, health, ways of working – the lot.  So what can we do as leaders?

Increase the pace of change: This all means that leaders need to speed-up their planning, and their steering of change management processes.  Leaders will need to be ready to respond to new internal needs and demands, from all corners of the workforce and organisation.  All are being powerfully influenced by the external environment, climate concerns, volatile social change, political direction and direct action, and vibrant technology.  If leaders don’t, then they risk a bumpy ride indeed. 

Being value-able: Being fast-paced is not enough though, neither should it be the limit to how leaders should approach their role moving forward.  Indeed, the flavours and nuances that will permeate the period are as much value-laden, as they are moral and/or ethical. I say more about this later.

Work differently: We have learned a lot by working apart, at home, in emerging hybrid arrangements, and in reorganising how we do everything at work.  We must now all better recognise and value ways of working, embracing our individual and collective human talent so that we can maximise its impact.  And that is how we should measure it: by impact and difference made, the productivity achieved, contribution delivered, over and above the traditional and basic counting of time/hours/minutes served, or the tracking of start and finish times.  Presenteeism really is flying out of the window.  All of this requires managers to trust new methods, and the team members they work with, and support healthy relationships with work, the work environment, and time management (including their own) – because there are real risks things of things becoming unhealthy and unhelpful.

Balance people and tech: There is much opportunity to be had through a greater focus on the symbiosis and synergy of ‘working with people working with technology’ – so it is all mutually beneficial. The lines are blurring between the two, but we will always need both.  Perhaps we could even contemplate a merger of HR and IT teams, so we are fully taking benefit from all our people and tech.  There needs to be balance.  I mean, use devices, but be able to stop using devices once in a while.  That will help with trust, truth, and team work (and home life) in my view.   

Point-full.  A made-up word, the opposite of pointless. Why we work is becoming more and more important for the workforce, and for the consumer of our services or products.  People are making choices, informed by their perception and priority placed upon being purposeful.  Our organisations need to be explicitly value-laden – with a solid focus on doing good work (working for good), measured in meaningful, truthful, and ethical ways.  An example is how we manage and practice sustainably, so we are properly and attentively using resource, supply-chains (and their workforces), by minimising environmental impact, and consciously consuming.  All of this needs to be fully integrated and communicated through all business activities. 

Partnership and accountability.  Bravery here relies upon stepping outside of that hierarchical/structure comfort-zone.  Leaders, teams, and organisations need to be more democratic, fluid, reactive and proactive constructions, with the flatness, dialogic, openness and confidence able to form deep-rooted collaborations and partnerships across teams, between teams and departments (such as that idea of merging HR and IT.), and with other organisations in the external environment.

Do more: And finally, if you feel you are doing pretty well on all these measures and ideas, my message is, do more, and do it faster.  You will thank me for it. 

In October, the Government announced a further £200m per year for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme for the next three years to 2025.  At first glance you might think a programme for school-aged children isn’t for you, but it really could be.  Why?  Read on. 

The idea of activities for children and young people in school holidays is not new.  But the national HAF programme is a relative newcomer on the scene.  It follows a growing interest in the needs of children in receipt of free school meals (FSM) when they are not at school, and the issues of holiday hunger, food poverty, summer learning loss and gaps between the attainment of disadvantaged children and their peers.  Combine with that the real sense that parents find a lack of out of school childcare, and we have a new provider opportunity.

DfE launched pilot programmes between 2018 and 2020, and by 2021/22 the first national roll out in every local authority area saw funds grow to £220m.  HAF aims to offer valuable support to families on lower incomes, through access to rewarding activities for school-aged children in receipt of FSM (including four-year-olds in reception.  Provision is fully funded and free to families, and typically runs for around four hours a day, four days a week, for four weeks in summer, and a week at Easter and Christmas holidays. 

Activities should include provision (with food) across a range of outdoor and indoor sport, physical activities, arts and crafts, games and play, food and nutrition learning and cooking, and trips etc.  All with the aim of supporting outcomes for children and families:

• Eating more healthily and being more active in the school holidays.
• Taking part in engaging and enriching activities to support development of resilience, character and wellbeing, along with wider educational attainment.
• Being safe and socially connected.
• Building greater knowledge of health and nutrition, and adopting good food behaviours.
• Being more engaged with school and other local services.

In short, HAF can be a huge agent of change, breaking cycles and opening up new experiences and relationships for families who need it most.  This is where early years and childcare providers come in.  You can support HAF provision, help families find and use it, or become a HAF provider yourself.  One thing I am predicting is that need and demand for HAF will grow over the next three years.  You could play your part:

• Sharing HAF information with families with school-aged children.
• Supporting families to understand HAF, find it, and use it.
• Connecting up or partnering with HAF provision to join up services.
• Becoming a HAF provider for four- to eight-year-olds, for example. 
• Extending HAF through much needed paid for childcare supported by parents’ fees, and/or Tax Free Childcare.

Want to know more?  Why don’t you contact your local council early years team and ask them to connect you with the council’s HAF Coordinator?

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