Staff shortages have put some Oxfordshire pre-schools in danger of closure.

Nursery and pre-school managers said tough new qualification standards and poor pay have made it so hard to recruit staff that some have been pushed to the brink.

The crisis comes despite new Government funding to train more staff and give Oxfordshire children more free nursery places.

Dozens of supervisors and assistants are needed to provide care for children under school age at voluntary pre-schools.

Managers said the problems have been made worse by new rules which have transferred responsibility for regulating and inspecting pre-schools from Oxfordshire County Council to the Government's regulator of schools, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted).

Ofsted requires supervisors to have a level-three diploma in pre-school practice or a level-three NVQ, and two years' experience. But as many voluntary pre-schools are charities, they are unable to pay the rates needed to attract professionals.

Dunmore Pre-School in north Abingdon is facing closure, after serving the community for 30 years, because of difficulties in recruiting a qualified supervisor.

Dawn Pearson, committee secretary of the 50-child pre-school, said: "We are in urgent need of a full-time qualified supervisor.

"It seems very difficult to find someone to take on the position due to the amount of paperwork that is now involved with new Government legislation."

At present the pre-school is open Monday to Friday mornings and Tuesday and Friday afternoons. If a full-time supervisor is appointed then the school would provide sessions all week.

Our Lady's Playgroup on Oxford Road, Cowley, Oxford, has been searching for a supervisor for more than a year.

The acting supervisor, who asked not to be named, said: "We have got a well-run playgroup, but no-one seems to want to take it on. There is so much paperwork involved, and many people are leaving the profession because it is hard work, and under-paid.

"If we could pay more, people would be more willing to do it." Hazel Smith, chairman of Grovelands Park Pre-School in Grove, near Wantage, said her school had been on the verge of closure last year because of problems finding a suitable supervisor.

She said: "We are a charity, so can only offer a relatively small wage and cannot hope to compete with the salaries offered by private, commercial nurseries.

"Without qualified staff, we would not be covered by insurance and would be running illegally." Despite advertising for a supervisor in shop windows and the media, Grovelands Park did not receive a single inquiry.

If a supervisor had not been found by chance, Mrs Smith said the only option would have been to shut the pre-school down. She said the Government was providing funding to enable all children over three-and-a-half to receive a pre-school education, but was setting standards so high that pre-schools were unable to meet them.

She said: "There is no magic pot of people who want to work in pre-schools or have the necessary qualifications."

The staffing problems come as schools in the county have been given funding to take on about 1,500 extra four- and three-year-old children.

In addition, £750,000 has been allocated to the county to train new supervisors, but takers remain thin on the ground.

Amanda Powell, of Oxfordshire Early Years Childcare and Development Partnership (OEYCDP), which manages pre-schools with the local education authority, said the shortage of skilled staff in Oxfordshire was due to the rapid growth in demand for childcare, coupled with the county's low unemployment rate and the high cost of local housing.

She said: "It is a very poorly paid sector. Parents aren't prepared to pay any more, but there are a lot of people who want to do this work."