THE staff at a Warrington nursery which closed its doors abruptly are still waiting to be paid their outstanding wages a year on.

A former nursery teacher at Springwood Nursery, Penketh, told the Warrington Guardian how the staff were given a week’s notice when being told that the setting would face a ‘temporary closure’ for a month last year.

This materialised into the permanent closure of the nursery, and while payment of wages to the ‘hard working’ staff was promised by the owners, despite an employment tribunal taking place, the funds have still not been paid.

The staff member, who wishes to remain anonymous, worked at the Chapel Road nursery for 12 months.

She explained how the owners of the nursery, Sheri and Marvin Oni, had gone on a week’s holiday to Portugal on the week commencing July 10, 2023, leaving the nursery with ‘with limited staff and agency staff’.

“On Thursday, July 21, 2023, Sheri Oni advised all staff that she would be doing a temporary closure of Springwood Nursery, which would commence the following day, Friday,” she said.

“Sheri Oni advised all staff would be paid as normal on Saturday, August 5, 2023.

“She was asked when she would be re-opening the nursery and she said she wanted to take a break and was thinking about re-opening in September 2023 - she also advised the parents of this via email.

“On Wednesday, August 2 last year, Sheri advised us that she had decided to close the nursery permanently and that she would provide us with any references we needed to gain future employment. She also said that we needed to send her our timesheets via WhatsApp as she would be running payroll.”

The nursery teacher added that on the Friday of that same week, all staff members were sent an email addressed from both Mrs and Mr Oni stating that they were ‘unable to pay salaries due and were seeking advice on the best way for the company to secure funds to do so’, adding that they would inform all staff as soon as possible with an update.

“We are still waiting to date to hear from Sheri and Marvin Oni regarding this, even though we have tried to contact Sheri via phone calls and written phone messages,” she added.

“As it stands to date Springwood Nursery Ltd is still operating as a business on Companies House and the website is still live, therefore it looks as though the nursery is still open.”

While the website is still live, the nursery’s Facebook page states the business is ‘permanently closed’.

And a representative of Springwood Nursery confirmed that the nursery closed in July 2023 ‘due to various issues, staffing being one of them’.

Former members of staff at the nursery took the owners to court through an employment tribunal as a way to retrieve the outstanding wages they are still owed.

The case was heard, with three members of staff providing evidence and they were awarded a total circa of £6,000.

But the battle for pay continues, the staff member confirmed, adding: “Springwood Nursery had 45 days to pay the outstanding funds to its former employees, which came and went, with no communication from Marvin and Sheri.

“When we chased them for the payment of salaries, they said they were trying to raise the money through other funds, maybe from the other companies which they run from the nursery address.

“Following a further month of no communication, we then had to go to a debt-collecting company to try and obtain the outstanding funds, which to date has also been unsuccessful due to Springwood Nursery not having any assets of value as anything of value is in the owner’s name and not the nursey name, which means they do not have to pay.”

The nursery teacher highlighted that she and others wanted to make future potential employees aware of the issues they faced working at the Penketh nursery.

“The owners expect you to work understaffed for very little pay, or no pay at all even though they have now had 12 months to raise the funds and pay their former employees what is rightfully theirs for the work they have completed.

“Clearly, they do not care about any of the staff, who worked extra days and hours to cover the staffing shortages whilst they were on holiday in Portugal,” she said.

A spokesperson for Springwood Nursery commented on the outstanding payments owed to staff, stating: “Springwood Nursery Limited has never disputed owing the staff their final salaries and holiday pay.

“Unfortunately, due to the unplanned closure of the nursery, there were no funds available to make the payment at that time, and the nursery has not had any income since. 

“This was also explained at the employment tribunal and only few days ago, we wrote to the affected former members of staff to let them know that we, as directors of the company, are still trying to raise funds to pay them. 

“We are not the only limited liability company that may have been forced to close, yet we are trying to raise funds to pay off the debt. It is not a deliberate act to owe staff wages, and we will do our best to make the payments as soon as we are able to raise funds.”