60,000 new creche places by 2016

€330m childcare investment will help reduce the 350,000-long waiting list for municipal creche places

AN EXTRA 60,000 creche places are to be created around France between now and 2016 to help cope with growing demand.

The Caisse Nationale d'Allocations Familiales has announced the €330m plan to increase capacity as 350,000 families are on the waiting list for a place in a municipal creche.

About 14,000 of the new places will be ready by 2012 in existing creches, which have been told to increase their capacity by up to 20%.

The other places will be in new facilities within large companies, community centres and hospitals.

The capacity changes in existing creches have led to a number of strikes in recent months.

Staff say increasing the number of children per adult is putting safety at risk.

Charly - Fotolia.com