Meagre pay could spark nursery staff shortage

A study by University College London's Institute of Education (IOE) found that low rates of pay for childcare workers, particularly in the private sector, makes it likely that staff will leave the profession if the economy grows as predicted over the next five years.

The IOE said such a trend will make it harder for providers to recruit qualified childcare workers at a time when more will be needed to meet the expected growth in demand from the doubling to 30 hours a week of the free entitlement for three and four-year-olds in 2017.

Antonia Simon, IOE lead researcher, said: "We have already seen a decrease in the childcare workforce of five per cent since 2005.  

“As the economy gradually starts to pick up, good candidates may move to better paid work in other sectors.

“This will make recruitment harder for providers looking to grow their workforce to cover the government's increased offer of 30 funded hours per week for three and four-year-olds of working parents from 2017."

Simon added that the free childcare policy is “unviable” because current government funding levels do not meet the costs of providing places.

As a result providers have to raise their fees for unfunded places to offset losses from the free entitlement, which the IOE says is a barrier to accessing childcare.

The government has vowed to undertake a review of funding levels for the free entitlement, and childcare providers have warned that an increase in staff pay must be factored into this.
 
Claire Schofield, policy director at the National Day Nurseries Association, said: “We need to ensure that the government’s funding review ahead of the expansion of funded hours enables us to put in place the right support and development for a high quality, stable workforce.

“We must not end up with inadequate funding which entrenches low pay and puts us in a worse situation.”

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, warned that the planned introduction in 2016 of a ‘national living wage’, at a rate much higher than the current national minimum wage of £6.50 an hour (for workers aged 21 and over in 2014) would further add to the pressures on recruitment in the sector.

“With the new national living wage set to come into effect next April, wage pressures are unlikely to abate any time soon,” he said.

“It’s absolutely vital that the government funds the sector at a level that ensures that providers are able to both attract and retain experienced, capable early years staff.”
 
The IOE research found that despite a 12 per cent increase in the proportion of NVQ Level 3 qualified nursery staff over the past decade, average pay is still only 10 pence above the national minimum wage.

It is calling for the setting up of a formal review to examine the “complex and interwoven issues of childcare”, as well as the launch of a recruitment drive for male workers.