The sudden closure of two early learning centres in Invercargill and Queenstown caught parents by surprise, leaving them to scramble to find solutions for their children’s care in less than 24 hours.
The Rainbow Corner Early Learning Centre in Queenstown closed its doors on March 8 and the Invercargill branch was closed on Tuesday.
The owners allegedly said the reason was in relation to the lease of the building. However, on Tuesday PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) was appointed as receivers of The Rainbow Group of Companies Ltd and certain associated companies.
Early childhood education licences are suspended when receivers are appointed.
Accordingly, the receivers have had to suspend child-care operations with immediate effect.
"We appreciate that these closures will cause a number of families significant disruption in the coming days, but unfortunately there was no alternative option under the circumstances," receiver Stephen White said.
Ministry of Education hautū (leader) for Te Tai Runga (South) Nancy Bell said it had been advised on Tuesday that the Rainbow Corner group of companies was in receivership and that the companies would close.
"The Rainbow Corner services in Invercargill and Queenstown were closed prior to this decision as Rainbow Corner had lost access to the buildings."
A mother of a Queenstown toddler, who asked to not be named, said she was surprised when she went to pick up her son at the centre on Tuesday.
"It was around 4.30pm on a Tuesday and then the teachers said ‘make sure you grab all your belongings, because we’re closing from tomorrow and they will send an email’. I asked what was happening but they couldn’t tell us anything further."
The email received that night was basic — just a couple of lines to apologise, saying the lease was changing over, she said.
"It is very disappointing. I am lucky because I work part-time, but a lot of people in this town don’t have family and don’t have any kind of support system and they absolutely rely on it [the centre]."
A social media group was created in support of parents so they could help each other, with some teachers and parents offering private care, she said.
At the Invercargill site, the owner of the building, PMG Direct Childcare Fund Trustees Ltd, placed two notices.
One was for the Rainbow Corner owners, where it stated the tenancy had been cancelled due to non-compliance with the Property Law Act notices.
Another for parents, caregivers and children of Rainbow Corner Invercargill said the lease was terminated, effective immediately, due to circumstances with its business operations that was beyond the building owner’s control.
PMG Funds chief executive Scott McKenzie said yesterday recent media coverage of Rainbow Corner, which leased two premises from PMG Funds, had created a "number of red flags".
He said in the long-term interests of all parties the best option was to terminate all leases with immediate effect.
He was working with affected parties to create short and long-term solutions for them, Mr McKenzie said.
- The Rainbow playcentre in South Dunedin is not impacted by the liquidation.
