Hundreds of early years providers in the South East have closed down, Ofsted data shows.
Between March and August 2023, 242 providers across Kent, Sussex and Surrey shut their doors.
Nurseries said they could not afford to run and were facing a staffing crisis.
The Department for Education (DfE) recognised "local challenges" in childcare availability but said it was "rolling out the single biggest investment" in the sector ever.
Graffham Nursery, a non-profit childcare provider in rural West Sussex, closed in August as it ran out of money and could not recruit staff.
Florence Sherwood, former chairperson of Graffham Nursery's governance committee, said management had to "cut everything to the bone" before making the decision to close.
It was "really hard, really stressful and really sad", she said.
