A nursery in Southall is set to shut down after fundraising efforts failed to raise enough money to keep its doors open.
Dormers Wells Nursery and Children's Centre has given the parents of its 15 children who use the services less than four weeks notice ahead of its permanent closure at the end of this month.
The "unexpected closure" has left families little time to secure alternative school places and employees to seek new jobs - just weeks before the new school term.
According to an email seen by getwestlondon, staff did not come to an easy decision but diminished funds and increased demands has made continuing services "virtually impossible".
Councillor Yvonne Johnson, cabinet member for schools and children’s services, said Ealing Council is "working to get an alternative provider in place as swiftly as we can so services can resume at Dormers Wells, but this is unlikely to be in place before the end of the month."
"No parent wants to hear news like this out of the blue, so we are working to provide alternatives to people affected by any temporary closures," she added.
In an email sent to parents and carers, the chief executive of Dormers Wells Trust (DWT), explains to parents that years of fundraising efforts were still not enough to keep up with maintenance and building costs.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances regarding diminishing finances and increased utility and other costs, DWT finds that it can no longer operate a viable service," the letter, dated August 7, reads.
"Therefore we are very sorry to inform all our parents, carers and families that regrettably we're going to have to close our nursery at the end of August 2018.
"This decision has not been made lightly and the trustees and chief executive have been negotiating with the Local Authority (LA) and Dormers Wells Infant School (DWIS) for some time in order to find a sustainable way forward for the services to continue.
"Unfortunately whilst DWT fundraised in order to build the setting we do not own the building nor do we own the land it belongs to DWIS and the LA which makes it extremely difficult for us to raise money from external funders for maintenance and other capital costs.
"Despite our request for a lease to be secured, we still do not have a lease and this has held us back (if not made virtually impossible) with our fundraising efforts for many years and our efforts to find private providers able to take on the nursery."
The email states that talks with Ealing Council regarding the possible transfer of children's centre's services ended with a rejection and it is also not possible to pass on responsibility for the nursery to the infant school down the road.
"We understand this will come as quite a shock to many of you, it is inconvenient, the timing is not good being the summer holidays and it will be very upsetting or annoying for some of you as you try and find alternative settings for your child," the email continues.
It adds that the team have "explored every avenue" before reaching the difficult decision and staff are "saddened" by the devastating news.
An anonymous parent said it was a "very apologetic letter" however they thought the decision was "unfair".
"Some parents probably don't even know and will realise after they come back from holiday," getwestlondon was told.
"All the teachers and parents are very disappointed and will now struggle to find jobs."
Ealing Council confirmed to getwestlondon that DWT notified the council of the closure on August 7 - the same day the emails were sent out to parents.
"All organisations, including charitable trusts which run these sorts of services, are required to have three-months of contingency funding in place to ensure that this sort of rapid closure doesn't happen," a spokesman said.
"Although there have been discussions with the Trust about its financial difficulties, the decision to close services within the month was unexpected.
"The council has quickly put a plan in place to ensure that all services provided at the centre are up and running again as quickly as possible and that any disruption to users is minimised."
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Councillor Yvonne Johnson, cabinet member for schools and children’s services added: "I know how shocked people will be by this news. I want to reassure them that everything is being done to get services back to normal as quickly as possible.
"We are working to get an alternative provider in place as swiftly as we can so services can resume at Dormers Wells, but this is unlikely to be in place before the end of the month.
"The council has extensive experience in dealing with these sorts of situations and earlier this year took over control of the borough’s library service following the compulsory liquidation of former provider Carillion.
"No parent wants to hear news like this out of the blue, so we are working to provide alternatives to people affected by any temporary closures.
"The parents of the 15 children who use childcare at the centre have been offered alternative high quality nursery services provision nearby.
"We will also review the arrangements for the children and community centre services to minimise disruption."
