Private Settings In Children's Centres

[Guest]

Hello,

My school is becoming a children's centre in 2008 and a private day care centre will be run from there. As a school we are thinking about setting up a limited company and bidding for the franchise. Has anyone been through this experience? How difficult will it be? Is there any where I can research this further? Many thanks

Lucyd

[Sue R]

A few years ago, our company bid for and won the franchise within a Sure Start centre to be built in a Nottingham area. However, this all fell through for various reasons. If I can pin The Boss down, I'll ask him how he went about his effort.

 

Sue

 

Sorry, just re-read that and need to clarify- the centre went ahead and is now a Children's Centre, it was our involvement that fell through!

[belle06]

We have recently bid and won the franchise for two childrens centres ( I work for a private company) have you any experience of day care if not is there a consultancy service that can give you advice before you do your proposal, you need to take in to account sustainability, staffing structure, fee structure, projected income e.t.c. A consultancy agency would be able to help you with the regulations e.t.c if you have not worked with them before. If i can be of any help feel free to pm me. Shelley

[Guest]

We have recently bid and won the franchise for two childrens centres ( I work for a private company) have you any experience of day care if not is there a consultancy service that can give you advice before you do your proposal, you need to take in to account sustainability, staffing structure, fee structure, projected income e.t.c. A consultancy agency would be able to help you with the regulations e.t.c if you have not worked with them before. If i can be of any help feel free to pm me. Shelley

 

 

Thank you very much. Will be in touch when further along the long journey that's it's going to be!

Lucyd

[Marion]

I was recently at an "extended schools" meeting where the subject of children's centre and private car was raised and one issue was that staff from a school who had won the franchise had discovered that their homes were at risk in the event of claims made against them. The advice was to make sure you are covered and no liable in the event of anything going wrong.

[Guest]

how about a community interest company, they are designed specifically for company to operate for the benifit of the community.They are ltd by gaurantee.

have a look at www.cicregulator.gov.uk/aboutUs

i think this is quite big in some parts of the country.

I work in a workers co-op pre-school we are ltd by gaurantee if you look up co-operatives uk they have info on childcare/school etc formats I have read about a cc model in one of their publications ,sorry to be vague stuff at my co.workers house. good luck in your quest

sue

[Guest]

I personally think that childrens centres fit perfectly to the community interest companies, although they do not seem to be as many as there should be and I am not sure why. Check out the Social Enterprice Coalition website for further information on how these are formed and what restrictions there are? I think the LA's find it difficult getting their head around all of this. The National Audit office looked at the management governnace of over 30 CC's they audited which makes interesting reading and there were only a few CIC's in operation. Have a look at the report on childrens centres from their site too as it helps to understand the issues surrounding what works and what doesn't. Having said that I think CIC's fit the bill I am not too sure whether they can operate totally independently and may be governed by Surestart guidelines on fees etc to take account of the WFTC and making it affordable for parents. It all seems to be done on an LA by LA basis and does vary from area to area.

Nikki