The market

The market

The annual LaingBuisson survey of the childcare market puts the value of day nurseries in the UK at £4.9bn (2014) with private nurseries representing 83% of that.

Growth in demand for nursery places is increasing because the government has committed to increase funding for childcare from 15 hours a week to 30 hours per week starting September 2017; and because an even greater proportion of women are taking fulltime roles than before

The volume of early education places has remained relatively static over the past few years, but the child population has jumped – so with demand growing, there are an increasing number of locations where current capacity just isn’t enough and parents are desperate to find any places for their children.

As Stone Eden is a leading provider of higher quality education and care with unique features (such as flexible attendance, dedicated professional kitchens and holiday clubs) you are likely to attract business from both those that simply can’t find other places and those that want to switch to something better.

And a Stone Eden nursery is an especially great business because we have designed it to be a management franchise.

This means that franchisees can concentrate on running and developing the profitability of their unit(s) because the actual childcare is provided by their staff with the support of our excellent systems and our training, compliance and development teams.

And alongside all the potential and financial rewards our sector can offer, running a good nursery is simply rewarding because you will be making a positive difference in the lives of hundreds of children and their families.

What you could make

What you could make from your new Stone Eden nursery business will depend on many factors, including its location, the range of acceptable fees in your area, the activities, pricing and quality of your local competition, how you run your business and more.

We have proven that Stone Eden can grow to over £1million annual turnover with excellent returns in a location where standard nursery fees are in the range £40 to £50 per day (and where we charge around £45 per day).

Across the country, fees can range from about £40 to £100 per day – so revenue depends largely on where you are based. As a quick guide, you might demand around £45 in rural areas and smaller cities (like Carlisle, where Stone Eden started), about £65 in major cities (like Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester) and over £70 in affluent areas and London.

The earnings and profits that you can take out of your business depend on several factors, including:

• The daily fees you can command in your area vs. local operating costs, (e.g. staffing costs in Sheffield are no more than in Carlisle, yet Sheffield commands 44% greater fees).
• How successful your business is and how efficiently you run it.
• Whether or not you take on an operational role as well as your management role and so save on salaries (i.e. smaller family-run units might choose to staff some non-contact roles themselves).
• How much you reinvest into the ongoing development of your nursery.
• How you are funded.

A reasonable target for profit can be between 8% and 12% of turnover before tax and after all operating costs.

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