Families of children who attended Bright Horizons nursery in London, where former employee Vincent Chan was jailed for 18 years for molesting young children, are set to meet Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to demand urgent safeguarding reforms. Chan pleaded guilty to 26 charges, including sexual assault by penetration and touching, in a case described as 'every parent's worst nightmare'.
The families are calling for an early warning system to allow concerns to be raised to an independent body, mandatory CCTV or body-worn video in early years settings, a two-adult supervision rule for larger settings, and stronger safeguards for nursery-owned devices. They argue that 'safeguarding failed' and that these failures 'created the perfect hunting ground for a predator'.
Bridget Phillipson has already announced a full local child safeguarding review and intends to appoint an expert advisory group on CCTV and digital device use. Education minister Olivia Bailey told MPs the government is 'considering the mandatory use of CCTV in early years settings'.
Law firm Leigh Day, representing 52 affected families, sent a legal letter to Bright Horizons in December. Alison Millar, head of the abuse team at Leigh Day, said parents had raised concerns about staffing and supervision that were not addressed. Bright Horizons stated after Chan's sentencing that 'keeping children safe is our most important responsibility' and that Chan's actions 'broke that trust'.
