Multi-site nursery group operations at the scale where complexity compounds. Acquisitions, restructuring, new site development, and the operational infrastructure that holds a portfolio of 10 to 100+ settings together. This is where most advisory falls short: understanding how the operations at setting level connect to the commercial model at group level.

Cost per funded hour modelling, funded rate analysis, fee architecture design, and the financial benchmarking that tells you whether your group is making or losing money on every session it delivers. The gap between what local authorities pay and what it costs to deliver a funded hour is where most margin is won or lost. This discipline exists to close that gap.

Inspection preparation, recovery planning, quality audits, and the distance between what regulatory compliance demands and what operational practice delivers. Led by professionals with direct Ofsted inspection experience who understand what inspectors look for, how the evaluation framework operates, and what it takes to move a setting from requires improvement to good or from good to outstanding.

Pedagogy, curriculum design, quality frameworks, and the standards that define what outstanding practice looks like at setting level. Assessment approaches, observation methodology, continuous improvement, and the connection between quality of provision and the commercial outcomes it drives. High quality settings retain families. Retention drives occupancy. Occupancy drives margin.

Designated safeguarding leadership, SEND coordination, inclusion strategy, and the governance structures that protect children and organisations. This is the discipline where the consequences of getting it wrong are highest and where the regulatory, reputational and human cost of weak governance is unrecoverable. Specialist expertise, not a compliance checkbox.

The structural gap between safeguarding responsibility and operational control over the physical environment. Estates assessment, contractor governance, facilities management, building compliance, and capital expenditure risk. Where the duty of care for children meets the condition of the buildings they spend their days in.

Building and developing the leadership teams that run nursery groups, from area manager capability through to board-level succession. Coaching, mentoring, and the management infrastructure that sustains performance after the consultants leave. The most common constraint on growth in multi-site groups is not capital or regulation. It is leadership capacity.

Nursery management systems, safeguarding platforms, workforce scheduling tools, parent engagement technology, and the integrations that connect them. Selection, implementation, and the architecture that supports growth rather than constraining it. Litus has direct experience with every major platform in the sector and understands how technology decisions made at 10 settings play out at 50.

Market entry strategy for European and international early years markets. Cross-border operational models, regulatory frameworks outside the UK, and the commercial realities of expanding childcare provision into new geographies. Covering 29 European markets with operational experience in Spain, Australia, and multi-country expansion.

New market development, regulatory navigation, and the strategic assessment of whether and how to enter new segments of the early years market. From local authority relationships and maintained sector dynamics through to acquisitive growth strategy and the due diligence that supports it.