A nursery worker has been arrested on suspicion of sex offences at a childcare centre in Devon, police have revealed .
The male teenager was held after allegations of sexual assault were made at Jack and Jill’s Childcare in Torquay in July this year.
Devon and Cornwall Police immediately launched an inquiry with the suspect being arrested and released under police investigation while inquiries continue.
It is understood around dozen families may have been directly affected and police have said “a number of children aged 2+ have been identified as potential victims of contact offences”.
Detectives have contacted over 100 families whose children would have attended the nursery during the investigation period.
Police added that the alleged offences “appear to be limited to within the nursery setting and we do not believe any other member of staff had knowledge of these matters”.
Bail conditions exclude the teenager from the immediate vicinity of the nursery and police said he had since left the Devon and Cornwall force area.
After the inquiry was launched, police uncovered “a number of concerns around safeguarding matters” and on October 24 Ofsted suspended the nursery’s licence.
Nancy Meehan, deputy director of children’s services at Torbay Council, said: “We take safeguarding children incredibly seriously and we are working closely with partners including the police in relation to this matter.”
In a notice posted on a window at the nursery, Ofsted said the suspension runs from October 24 to December 24.
“The purpose of the suspension is to allow time to investigate our belief that a child may be exposed to a risk of harm and for any necessary steps to be taken to eliminate or reduce the risk of harm,” the notice said.
“We will regularly review the situation and will stop the suspension within this period if we believe children are no longer at risk.
“Suspension does not automatically mean that a provider is unsuitable to provide care in the future or that we will cancel registration.
“We only take steps to cancel registration if we consider that the provider is no longer suitable to provide childcare.”