CYP Now - Childcare experts urge MPs to address recruitment crisis

Early years experts and researchers have asked a group of cross-party MPs to address a recruitment and retention crisis facing the sector, reporting high staff turnover due to low morale, high workloads and low wages.

Experts warned MPs that early years recruitment has become increasingly difficult. Picture: Kraken Images/Adobe Stock

At a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Childcare, experts reported an increase in staff turnover across the sector, saying practitioners are leaving for higher paying jobs with less responsibilities attached.

Kate Hardy from Leeds University Business School said that 56 per cent of nurseries are now finding it more difficult to recruit staff, and a quarter of managers said that staff turnover was higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the university’s research project on the impact of Covid-19 on the early years sector.

Hardy reported that this was largely due to low pay, and said that early years educators are now leaving for better paying jobs in sectors like retail.

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