Parents are being left “in a real mess” without childcare as thousands of providers close.

The number of childcare providers in England dropped by about 4,000 between March 2021 and March this year, the largest decline since 2016, according to figures from Ofsted.

Campaign Group Pregnant Then Screwed said it had been “inundated” with messages from parents who said their nurseries were closing, amid accusations of government underfunding.

Orest Bakhovski, from Uxbridge in northwest London, said he and his wife now have to find a new nursery by January after their local council-run facility announced it would be closing at the end of December.

He said it was a “slap in the face” against the backdrop of the current cost of living crisis and that parents and carers have launched a petition to keep the nursery open.

A report to Hillingdon Council said three early years centres were recommended for closure as they were operating at a £532,000 loss “despite several attempts to improve their viability”.

Joeli Brearly, chief executive for Pregnant Then Screwed, said parents across the country were “in a real mess” and the situation was a “nightmare” for providers, who are also facing a staffing crisis.

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“It’s a lack of government funding that’s creating this problem,” she added.

Many parents living in England with children between three and four years old can currently get 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year.

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Neil Leitch, chief executive at the Early Years Alliance, the largest and most representative early years organisation in England with 14,000 members, said the sector was “facing a staff and recruitment crisis on a scale that we have not seen before” as well as “skyrocketing costs and insufficient funding”.

He added: “This means that early years providers are being forced to turn parents away because they do not have enough staff to take on more children and in some cases are even having to close because they have lost so many members of their team.”

Labour has hit out at the government, accusing it of “deliberate underfunding”.

Bridget Phillipson MP, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “Under the Conservatives, childcare has become unavailable and unaffordable.

“Many providers are still operating at a loss or have been forced to close their doors for good, leaving families without access to the childcare they need.”

A government spokesperson said £4bn had been spent in each of the past five years to support families with the cost of childcare.

They added: “We know there are challenges facing the sector, which is why we are increasing funding to support employers with their costs, investing millions in better training for staff working with pre-school children and have set out plans to help providers run their businesses more flexibly.

“This includes plans to support more childminders into the market by reducing upfront costs.”

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