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The parents of a nine-month-old girl who died after being placed in an unsafe sleeping position at nursery said they feared poor practice may be “rife” across England.
Genevieve Meehan suffocated when she was strapped face down to a beanbag for an hour and 37 minutes at a nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, in May 2022.
Kate Roughley, the nursery’s deputy manager, was jailed for 14 years in 2024 after being found guilty of manslaughter. One of Roughley’s colleagues was later jailed for the “deplorable” treatment of other babies in her care.
Genevieve’s parents, Katie and John Meehan, have led a campaign with the charity the Lullaby Trust to strengthen safety and regulation of nurseries after a series of high-profile abuses.
The sector has come under intense scrutiny in recent months after the cases of Vincent Chan and Nathan Bennett, nursery workers who sexually assaulted children in their care.
Chan was jailed in February for 18 years for molesting young children in a campaign of sexual abuse that was described as “every parent’s worst nightmare”, while Bennett was jailed in March for 24 years for raping and abusing young children in his care.
Another nursery worker, Kimberley Cookson, was jailed in April over the death of 14-month-old Noah Sibanda, who had been physically restrained face-down with a blanket over his head while being put to sleep.
As a result of Genevieve’s parents’ campaign, childcare settings in England will be banned from September from putting babies under 12 months to sleep in anything other than a cot.
Ofsted, the regulator, will triple the number of unannounced inspections – adding an extra 3,000 visits a year, boosted by an additional £8m from the government – and inspect nurseries every four years instead of six. Each visit will scrutinise sleeping policies.
Katie Meehan, 42, said she was “really shocked” by the extent of unsafe sleeping practice that had been revealed when nurseries wrote privately to the government about the planned changes this year.
Some reported leaving babies to sleep in pushchairs “due to space limitations”, according to details shared with the Department for Education (DfE). Others put infants to sleep outside, adopting “forest school models or Scandinavian practices”.
By law, nurseries are required to follow NHS safer sleep guidance – which includes laying the baby on their back in a cot or Moses basket – however, in the rules from September, the government will state: “Babies aged one year and under must only be placed to sleep in a cot.”
Katie Meehan, who is working closely with the government and Ofsted, said the responses suggested unsafe sleeping may be “rife” across England and that they were a “wake-up call” for the regulator and officials.
Some nursery owners said they would be forced to reduce the number of infants they take as a result of the new rules. Several raised concerns that this will ban smaller beds, such as dream coracles, which take up less space than a cot and have been widely adopted in recent years.
John Meehan, 40, said he was concerned some nursery owners – many of whom are backed by private equity firms – were potentially putting profit before safety.
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“There are lots and lots of people out there who just want to do their absolute best and they go into that industry because they want to look after children,” he said. “But my impression from some of the responses is that they are taking too many children and there is a money incentive for them to do so, and that is a real concern.”
Ministers are now considering whether to introduce mandatory CCTV to all nurseries in England, one of the key aims of the campaign. Olivia Bailey, the former early years minister who spearheaded the latest reforms, is understood to have been very persuaded by the arguments for mandatory CCTV.
Katie Meehan said she was disappointed that Bailey lost her role in the reshuffle when Andy Burnham became prime minister. However, she is hopeful Burnham will take up the reforms, having met Genevieve’s family this year when he was mayor of Greater Manchester.
She said Burnham was particularly supportive of their call for mandatory CCTV – which was crucial in securing Genevieve’s killer’s conviction – and that he had told them: “Genevieve was a child of Manchester and she was failed. We’ve got to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The DfE said: “What happened to Genevieve was a tragedy, and her parents’ campaigning has already changed practice across the country. We will keep going until no family goes through what theirs has.
“The vast majority of settings do a brilliant job, and the response to our updated guidance showed a sector that wants to get this right. But settings have long been legally required to follow NHS safer sleep guidance, and that is why we are working with the Lullaby Trust to make those expectations unambiguous, so there can be no excuses for unsafe practice.”
Sir Martyn Oliver, the chief inspector at Ofsted, said: “No parent should have to endure what Katie and John have been through. They have shown remarkable bravery in pursuing change following their daughter’s tragic death.
“We welcome the DfE’s additional funding for more frequent inspections, including thousands more without notice visits. We’re also strengthening our inspection practice so that safe sleeping in nurseries and with childminders is now a mandatory part of every inspection and will be reported on for parents to read.”
