Southwark’s Unison Trade union has issued a press release:

Southwark Council proposes to sack 27 qualified nursery officers which have left staff shocked and distraught, and in fear for the future of council run nurseries.
Southwark council says it has ‘listened’ to the parents determined campaign against the closure of Bishops House and Tenda Road nurseries and now intends to keep open the last four council owned nurseries in Southwark.
Stop Cuts to Nursery Officers!
However, it is keeping the nurseries open by sacrificing 27 experienced and qualified nursery staff and replacing them with lesser qualified and completely unqualified staff. We believe this will mean a very poor quality service which will lead to safeguarding and health and safety concerns.

The council says it is no longer consulting with parents as “It is not proposed to make any significant change to the services offered to the local community.”

However, we believe the Councils proposals are completely unworkable and are a disservice to Southwark children as they replace skilled staff with cheap labour.
We do believe this is a significant change to the service – a significantly worse service as it will mean:
Higher turnover of staff as poorly paid staff leave to seek better pay and conditions
Constant changing of key workers will lead to unsettled children and families as continuity of care is broken
Unqualified and inexperienced staff will lead to potential safeguarding and health and safety risks
Very few well qualified staff working directly with children
Highly qualified staff will be overworked and stressed as they juggle management tasks with direct work with children
Overwork and stress leads to ill health and an unhappy working environment

This all adds up to a huge attack on a quality service! Higher costs for a lower level of service. Stop the job cuts, nursery rooms must be staffed by well qualified (level 3) nursery officers only!
Sign the petition join our campaign we urge parents, families and the local community to lobby their local councillors, Councillor Dora Dixon Fyle, Cabinet member for Children’s Services, and Council Leader Peter John to oppose these damaging proposals.

parents outside Southwark’s offices earlier this year