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Early years staffing crisis ‘major barrier’ to planned childcare expansion

2 mins read Early Years
An expected mass exodus of early years workers could undermine government plans to expand funded childcare hours, new research warns.
Around 50,000 additional staff could be needed in 2024 to deliver plans for expanded childcare hours, researchers find. Picture: 1001 color/Adobe Stock
Around 50,000 additional staff could be needed in 2024 to deliver plans for expanded childcare hours, researchers find. Picture: 1001 color/Adobe Stock

A report by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition and the University of Leeds reveals that 57 per cent of nursery staff and 38 per cent of childminders are considering quitting the sector in the next year.

This could coincide with government plans to extend funded childcare hours to children as young as nine months old by 2025, researchers have said.

According to the report “even by conservative estimates the number of childcare places in England would need to grow by six per cent in order to meet the demand created by the government’s planned expansion”.

However, just 17 per cent of nursery managers said it was likely they would increase the number of places they offered, while 35 per cent said they would limit the number of places they offered unless there was more government support to enable them to recruit and retain staff.

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