Coningsby nursery owner launches Lincolnshire prize draw Nursery Jackpot offering free 12-month placements

A monthly prize draw which gives parents the chance to win free childcare is inviting nurseries all around the county to join.

Nursery owner Nicola Holt, from Coningsby, founded Nursery Jackpot after three years in the planning and recruited her colleague Emma Dickens to be managing director.

After a successful pilot scheme with the Little Acorns Day Nursery in Coningsby last year, the first official countywide draw was made last month.

More than 200 nurseries in Lincolnshire have signed up to the draw which already has around 4,500 players in the county.

“For Nicola, it was important with regards to bringing some joy back into early years provision, helping families to pay for childcare, keeping nurseries alive, but also obviously giving back to the community,” said Emma.

“The government funding side unfortunately doesn't quite always cut the mustard. Provision is quite underfunded, especially for smaller, niche businesses.”

Players can enter for a one-off play from £10 a time, or via a subscription - which starts at £10 a month, giving 30 entries into the draw. Draws take place on the first day of each month.

Each draw offers a top prize of a 12-month nursery placement, and a three-month placement for second prize, while the third prize is a £500 voucher.

“Parents are benefiting because they’re getting a year’s free childcare so massive savings, hundreds or thousands of pounds, depending on where they are,” Emma said.

“A lot of the winners we've had have said, ‘I can finally think about going on a family holiday, I can finally pay off some extra bills’.”

Registration is free for nurseries and is designed to be quick.

“Being a previous nursery manager myself, you've got the day-to-day running of a nursery and then you don't really need a lot more on your plate,” Emma added.

“So the idea is that it's making it as streamlined as possible for the nurseries. It's 30 seconds of work.”

Once registered, a plaque will be made and fitted at the setting containing a QR code taking parents to the Nursery Jackpot website.

They hand over the cost of the placements directly to the nursery chosen by the winning parents, while a proportion of proceeds is donated to a Lincolnshire charity.

The first to benefit with a £500 donation was Grimsby petting farm Nunny’s Farm, while May’s chosen charity is the Skegness branch of the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

“Somewhere down the line, we don't just want to do one prize draw,” said Emma.

“We want to be able to donate to more charities.”

Expansion plans also include rolling it out to other parts of the UK.

“We're going to be opening it up to Yorkshire and other counties eventually,” said Emma.

“The main aim is to take this to the UK and take this to as many childcare settings as possible, whether it be childminders, nurseries, and schools that offer wraparound care.

“The more this Nursery Jackpot grows, the more good that it can do.”

For more information, visit https://www.nurseryjackpot.co.uk/