Lamesley childcare

Case- 3
Agenda
About Lamesley Childcare
Audit of Lamesley Childcare Centers
Challenges
Recommended Strategies
References
Introduction
 COMPANY : LAMESLEY CHILDCARE CENTRE
 FOUNDER : JOAN ALEXANDERS
 YEAR FOUNDED : JUNE 1992
 REGION COVERED : GATESHEAD AND SUNDERLAND
 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 330
 TYPE OF BUSINESS : CHARITY
 ANNUAL REVENUE : £487.9K
 PROFIT: £14.5K
 About Lamesley
• SERVICES : Offering Breakfast Clubs at different centres from 7:30 am to 8:55 am daily (Monday to Friday) costs £5.2 per session
• Offering Afterschool Clubs at different locations from 3:15pm to 6:00pm (Monday to Friday) costs £8.7 per session

• Offering Holiday Childcare clubs at Lamesley from 8am – 6pm (Mondays to Friday) costs £22 per day)

OVERVIEW OF LAMESLEY CHILDCARE CENTRE

• Lamesley Childcare centre is a charity established in Gateshead to enable parents to create a work-family balance by offering experienced
and interesting childcare activities to children of ages 4 – 16 during term time and school holidays. About 440 registered families and 345
children are currently benefiting from the services of the charity. They have a presence on Facebook and Twitter with 192 and 5 followers
respectivelyThe organization partners with local schools for spaces to accommodate the children and their staff members. 9 schools have
been registered till date but 6 is up and running currently.

• OFSTED is a regulatory body that inspects the activities of charities to make sure they are in line with government policies
Audit
To run an effective external audit on Lamesley Childcare centre. 4 business analytic tools are
employed, these are;

1. SWOT ANALYSIS,

2. TWOS ANALYSIS,

3. PESTEL ANALYSIS,

4. PORTER’S

5 FORCES ANALYSIS
 SWOT
strengths weaknesses

• marketing
• trained workforce
• close proximity to childcare (schools) • partnerships
• strong security network
• internet
• strategic timing
• training and development facilities • availability of customers

• presence of trained staff

opportunity threats

 presence of • brexit
unqualified staff
• inadequate spaces for children • coronavirus
• insufficient workforce
• lack of promotion • competitors
for qualified staff
• low brand image • government policies
 high attrition rate
 poor financial and organisational planning
 insufficient work hours and pay package
 TWOS Analysis

Weaknesses: Some of the weaknesses of Lamsley are:

"Value and listen to the staff": This is identified as a weakness, suggesting that it currently does not place
enough emphasis on valuing or listening to its staff members.

Strengths (S): Some of strengths of Lamsley are:

"Partner with schools to provide personnel and spaces": This strength indicates that the lamsley has
opportunities to partner with educational institutions to enhance its human resources and physical space.

Opportunities (O):
some of opportunities for lamsley are:
"Referral incentives": This suggests that there is an opportunity to implement incentives for referrals,
potentially to attract talent or customers. "Seek support from PTA to provide more spaces": This indicates an
opportunity to engage with Parent-Teacher Associations for support in expanding physical spaces.

Threats (T):
The treats are:
Based on analysis, if staff consensus is not achieved to understand the issues of the organization then there is
risk of non-alignment in partnership with potential schools and assigning personal spaces for fostering growth.
POLITICAL •
L
New government
• Policies
• Unstable government funding
• Lockdown
• measures
• BREXIT

ECONOMIC • Increased unemployment

• Recession
• Competitors with better pay package

SOCIAL • Lack of objective

• partnership with schools
• Work-Life balance
• Competitors with better children- staff ratio

TECHNOLOGICAL • Provision of engaging activities through technology

ENVIRONMENTAL • Lack of spaces Post- Coronavirus

LEGAL • Negative stereotypes Ofsted directives

• Children protection rights
 Porter’s Five forces
Bargaining power of suppliers
Threat of new entrants
 Childcare Limited operates, there are often more suppliers than buyers.
 It is now simpler for people who produce high capacities to enjoy a cost
This implies that the Suppliers have less pricing control, which makes
advantage.
suppliers' bargaining leverage a weak force.
 This renders the threats posed by new competitors a weaker force.  Other products in this industry are not dealt with by the suppliers. This
Within the industry, enterprises sell differentiated items rather than means that other substitutes than those supplied by the suppliers are not
available for the product. Consequently, bargaining power in the industry
conventional products since there is a major focus on product is strengthened by suppliers.
differentiation.
 Recommendation:
 Advertising and customer service are also given a lot of attention.
Because of all these considerations, the threat of new entrants is a  Step1: Childcare Limited is capable of focusing on innovation In
minimal force in this market. order to attract more buyers, and differentiation. Product Substantial
 It is challenging for new entrants to establish enterprises because of the importance is placed on differentiation and quality of products For
high capital needs within the industry.
buyers in the sector.
 Step2: Think Childcare Limited needs to build a large one. The
 Recommendation:
customer base as a bargaining chip for the buyers is weak. It's possible
 Step1: Fighting off new entrants through its cost advantage.
to do that by means of a marketing campaign. It is aimed at building a
 Step2: Childcare Limited can focus on innovation to differentiate its
brand's loyalty.
products from that of new entrants. It can spend on marketing to
build strong brand identification. This will help it retain its customers
rather than losing them to new entrants.
Porter’s Five forces
Threat of Substitute Products or Services
Rivalry among existing firms
 Products that are manufactured within the sector in which they are
 This means that, without notice, companies do not make moves in this sector.
produced have very limited substitutes. Think Childcare Limited
For very few competitors, there is an excellent degree of
operates.
market share.
 Low profit generating industries also produce a very limited
number of substitutes. This is because there are no limits on the  This means that for the purpose of establishing itself as market leaders,
maximum amount of profit that a firm may make in an area such as they will engage in competition. As a result, the rivalry between current
childcare. undertakings in this sector is stronger.

 Recommendation:  Recommendation:
 Step1: The Think Childcare Limited can concentrate its efforts on
providing childcare. Greater quality of its products. As a result, buyers,  Strategic Planners will be able to see how the various factors associated with
would choose its products, which provide greater Quality as opposed each of these five forces affect the profitability of this sector
to substitution at a lesser price product that are of a higher quality, but
at the same time, higher price. if they use Think Childcare Ltd's Five Forces Analysis.
 A stronger force results in lower profitability, and a weak one leads to
 Step2: Think Childcare Limited might be able to focus on higher profit. In strategic planning it is possible to judge the industry's
differentiating its products. This will ensure that buyers see its profitability on this basis.
product as
unique, and they don't change It is easy to substitute products which
do not provide these unique benefits.
 Step3: Making sure the customer gets what they want.
 Lamesley Challenges
• Childcare services throughout the world face a lot of challenges and deal with issues which are not only external but also internal.

• Basically discussing about the issues and challenges faced we can focus on the childcare services on a global context irrespective
of the organisation mentioned for this case study.
• According to many reports generated by the organisations who conduct the inspection for the childcare services the capacity of dealing
with these challenges is decreasing.
• According to a survey conducted 57% of managers said that emotional needs of children increase every year

• There is a significant rise in the number of cases being registered or complaints filed by or against working in the childcare services.

• In last two years there has been a drop in the percentage of families using the childcare centres by nearly 49%

• Around 200 child care centres has been forced to close down in recent years with the managers unable to maintain staffing levels and
financial stability
• More than 1000 centres has closed since 2009 as spending on child care services by local authorities has decreased by a whooping 53%
from £1.4 billion to 688 million
Lamesley challenges
• There was a significant increase as much as 63% for mental support because of parental depression

• 70% of managers felt young people need more help to cope with finances

• There is an immense cut in the funds and budget by government every year which is resulting in closures of child care centres

• On 31 December 2021, there were 37,600 childminders registered with Ofsted, down by 10,300 (22%) since 31 August 2015.
(researchgate, 2023)
 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND
FORECAST
 In the year 2021, there was a significant rise in administrative expense (37%) especially salaries and training costs. However,
there was a 29% increase in revenue that same year.
 2021 saw the income increased by 6.9 percent against a 6.7% increase in expenses.
 For 2022, regarding the financial information and trend of Lamesley childcare centre and putting into consideration the effects of
coronavirus to the economy, we predict an 87% decrease in income compared to the year 2021. However, a 36% decrease in expenses
is expected for 2022

Recommendations
 SALARY INCREASE: With limited hours of work for employees, an increase in the pay rate will keep the employees at work.
 EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK: Consistent feedback to the employees on their performance will make them feel valued.
Moreover, they should be allowed to participate actively in problem solving and idea generation.
 SUGGESTION AND COMPLAINT BOX: The complaint box is an avenue for employees to anonymously report internal disputes or
conflict which can lead to decreased productivity or performance. Suggestion box gives the employees a chance to pitch their ideas and
provide solutions to the current issues in the organization
E X P E C T E D R E T U R N ON
R E C O M M E N D E D STRATEGIES
 In order to implement the recommended strategies, the forecasted investment cost is £5660. We
predict that income generated by the centre will increase steadily for 3 years as the issue of staff
retention and satisfaction will be curbed resulting in a slight decrease in the expenses with
salaries expected to increase and training cost reduced. Employee productivity and
collaboration will rise significantly opening the doors to new customers.
 The workability of these strategies is dependent on the time of resumption of full business
activities as we are currently as we are currently obeying the government directive to STAY
HOME, STAY SAFE AND SAVE LIVES
Conclusion

Opportunities: being the largest n establish a childcare agency as a

knowledge to adopt into new environment.
Threats: high competition and external issues like government
regulations
Trends: offer the highest possible quality of service training and
development to all staff making them creative and professional with
respect to Child care
References
• Ferdosi, M., Rezayatmand, R., & Taleghani, Y. M. (2020). Risk Management in Executive Levels of Healthcare
Organizations: Insights from a Scoping Review (2018). Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 13, 215.
• Gottfried, O., De Clercq, D., Blair, E., Weng, X., & Wang, C. (2018). SWOT-AHP-TOWS analysis of private investment
behavior in the Chinese biogas sector. Journal of Cleaner Production, 184, 632-647. TWOS
• Hosoe, N. (2018). Impact of border barriers, returning migrants, and trade diversion in Brexit: Firm exit and loss of
variety. Economic Modelling, 69, 193-204.
• https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/586242/SEED
Good_Practice_in
_Early_Education_-_RR553.pdf
• https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4734/1/RR409.pdf
• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0972150916666879
• https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/16/EY360616