The cost of living on the frontline

Like other areas of the public sector, children's and youth services continue to be affected by the tough financial climate.

Low pay, heavy caseloads and lack of support in areas such as training are just some of the worrying trends across the children's workforce, according to recent analysis.

A report published in October by research agency Ceeda found the early years sector is facing particular difficulties.

Providers are struggling to attract new staff, provide competitive salaries and organise training, says the report, which adds that early years is "systemically underfunded".

More than four out of five providers told Ceeda they found vacancies hard to fill and 30 per cent had made cuts to training investment.

This research also found that the average early years practitioner earns just £8.49 an hour, compared with £9.41 for similar roles, such as care worker and nursing assistant. A nursery manager's average hourly pay is £13.43 while their equivalents in other sectors receive £21.74.

Poor pay in the early years sector is also contributing to a reduction in the number of early years teachers, says Save the Children's It All Starts Here report, published in November.

Staff, providers and trainers interviewed by the charity said there was often little difference in pay between early years teachers and those without this specialist status. This is despite three quarters of early years managers saying employing graduates helps improve children's development and education.

This situation looks unlikely to improve, according to the National Day Nurseries Association, which estimates nurseries will be £437m out of pocket next year due to a lack of action in the recent budget to reduce business rates, offer providers more money for funded places and assistance on meeting National Living Wage commitments.

Working conditions are also poor for many children's social workers, according to a survey for the Social Workers Union (SWU) and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) undertaken this year by Bath Spa University.

Nearly two thirds of around 2,000 children's social workers surveyed said they wanted to leave their current job within the next 16 months, compared with 55 per cent when the profession was surveyed the previous year.

Reducing caseloads is listed as the top change social workers want to see to improve their working life. Other recommendations from social workers who took part in the survey include co-working on difficult cases, recruiting more staff and fairer case allocation. They also want to see a cap on the number of workers that each manager oversees.

Lack of support from management and incidents of bullying are also rising, the survey found. A report into the findings maintains public sector pay freezes and cuts to resources are key factors in this situation.

"Our members tell us that high caseloads, staff vacancies, irregular supervision and limited access to continuing professional development are factors that impact on their quality of work-life balance and motivation," says BASW England national director Maris Stratulis.

"It's clear that a supportive working environment, with manageable caseloads, is what gives social workers job satisfaction and makes them want to stay in the profession."

Children's health workers are also feeling the strain, with health visitor numbers falling by more than 10 per cent between October 2015 and January 2017, resulting in increased workloads for those that remain. In September 2018, the Institute of Health Visitors said rising caseloads were prompting many health visitors to leave the profession because of fears they are unable to protect children.

Here, six frontline children's professionals explain how they manage the financial challenges of working in the sector.

THE CHILDMINDER
LINDA MULVANEY

Job title Childminder

Employer Self-employed in the north west of England

Annual salary Approximately £8,000 for a 70-hour week

Holiday entitlement None

Additional benefits Working from home, which means I can support my adult daughter who has epilepsy and autism while she is looking for employment.

Training I have to pay for my own training. I did enrol to do a Masters in early years but the government didn't approve my loan despite the fact I met the criteria. I am currently paying to complete my Curiosity Approach accreditation and have just updated my first aid training. Most courses are too expensive or take place during the week but I can only attend on weekends.

"I have only been a childminder for 12 months. If I was always full then the pay would be reasonable, but the parents I work for want me to provide flexibility due to their work commitments, which means I am sometimes low on numbers.

Taking into account additional hours, accounts and administration, cleaning, shopping, food preparation and planning, tracking and assessments as well as training and investing to provide the quality service that I believe all children deserve, it is almost impossible to earn even a minimum wage at the moment.

Life is quite challenging financially. This is partially due to my personal situation and family responsibilities. I was a childminder a few years ago and it was very different then. It was easier because our training and support was provided by the council and we also were able to use services at the local children's centre. This has all gone.

I have the National Nursery Examination Board diploma, a degree specialising in early years education and more than 35 years' experience but I would be financially better off working a 50-hour week minimum wage job that didn't have the responsibility attached. It's my parents and the children that keep me going for now, but if things don't improve I may have to give up completely.

The situation in early years is fast becoming untenable."

THE SENCO
NICOLA SMITH

Job title Special educational needs co-ordinator (Senco)

Employer Mainstream local authority maintained primary school in the South East of England

Annual salary £29,000 (0.7 full-time equivalent)

Holiday entitlement School holidays

Any additional benefits Pension as well as Teaching and Learning Responsibility payments.

Training This is paid for by the school, once agreed with the person responsible for the continuing professional development (CPD) budget. This is limited but often training is subsidised or free within the local authority.

"I am a part-time dedicated Senco. I have been in my current role for five years and consider myself to be paid fairly. I am financially comfortable but I don't have any dependents and it would be more challenging if that were the case.

More pay and flexible working would make a difference along with the capacity to access training for potential further career opportunities such as postgraduate courses, which are often more expensive.

I would like training to enable me to administer assessments of children. Currently we have to pay an educational psychologist to undertake this.

An example of the type of course is the certificate of competence in educational testing (CCET), which costs around £1,500 when accessed via an online learning platform.

Sencos are increasingly expected to have a more strategic role within schools so the national professional qualification for senior leadership (NPQSL) is another training route that some might like to take. Again, it is costly, at around £1,750."

THE TEACHER
HELEN ROSS

Job title Part-time (0.5) special educational needs teacher and private tutor

Employer Mainstream secondary school in the south west of England

Annual salary £17,500

Holiday entitlement School holidays

Additional benefits Teachers Pension Scheme, reduced gym membership at local council's facilities.

Training I am going to undertake training to be a specialist dyslexia teacher and will finance it myself. The school will support me through allowing access to do my teaching practice there.

"I started my current role in September this year. Before that I was a full-time special educational needs co-ordinator (Senco) for two years at a small independent school. After completing my PhD, I wanted to work mainly in the classroom and pursue ventures that will use my PhD, support those who cannot access resources due to cost, and start working more in the third sector in my field.

I think pay varies a lot depending on the institution. In my previous role, I had a relatively high number of students on the special educational needs (SEN) list, but received a relatively small teaching and learning responsibility payment of around £2,500.

I now work part-time in a large school and I think I'm paid reasonably well. I don't, however, have a teaching and learning responsibility or SEN allowance, which I find a little contradictory given I am employed specifically as an SEN teacher for my skills with SEN and specialist knowledge.

That said, I understand school budgets are tight in the maintained sector and I would rather be working as I am for a good salary than "push" too hard and for the school to be struggling.

There is little funding for postgraduate training for SEN professionals and, for me, that is causing my household financial difficulty.

I am in a privileged position, in that I have family and a partner who is able and willing to support me to pursue my current ventures. However, I suspect that many would-be specialist teachers are precluded from undertaking the training that would be necessary for them to pursue those routes."

THE SOCIAL WORKER
ALEX MOAKES

Job title Social Worker

Employer Council in the West Midlands

Annual salary £27,000

Holiday entitlement 29 days

Any additional benefits Pension

Training My employer offers an abundance of free training, which I am able to access at any time, provided the course is not fully booked.

"I joined the council in July 2018 and absolutely love my job. Starting salaries for newly qualified social workers are significantly higher than for other jobs.

However, caseload and time spent completing administrative tasks at home are significant. I often find I am completing tasks at home at the expense of spending time with my own daughter and family.

My salary covers my basic daily hours, which are supposed to be around 9am to 5pm. However, this does not take into consideration the time spent completing tasks at home and also any overtime, which is often accrued. This time can be taken back but while caseloads are so high it is not possible to do that.

Financially I'm comfortable, however, my partner also has a good wage. I have built up debt through the use of credit cards during my time as a student social worker. And while the pay is fair, the money has not lasted the full month due to having to pay off debts and other costs such as nursery fees.

The thing that would make the biggest difference to my work-life balance would be incentives to maintain a stable and consistent workforce and ensure social workers have manageable caseloads. Social workers are juggling high caseloads, which makes practice risky and unsafe to social workers, children and families.

I'd like the luxury of a normal standard of work-life balance, where you are not made to feel that you are emotionally neglecting your own children and not burning yourself out from long hours and late nights sat at your laptop, completing administrative tasks."

THE SOCIAL WORK ASSISTANT
DANIEL SILLMAN

Job title Social Work Assistant (registration as a social worker pending)

Employer Local authority in London

Annual salary £28,000 (increasing to £32,500 on registration)

Holiday entitlement 27 days

Additional benefits There is no pay for overtime but time off in lieu is offered when extra hours are worked. There is talk of a ‘golden handshake' of £1,500 for taking a role here after the first year is completed. Other colleagues have been offered childcare vouchers and there is a salary sacrifice scheme where payments for a new bike or laptop will be deducted from your salary. In addition, there is an employee benefits scheme that provides us with discount cards from many local stores and a gym in the local area.

Training This local authority provides a lot of training for free. I am seeking further external training in British Sign Language. I have not yet approached them to discuss this being paid for but that is something I would like to explore. So far the training I have received has been very in-depth and challenging and has made me less anxious about joining my new team.

"I initially worked for this council as a student on my 100-day placement in a disabled children's team and then rejoined for two months during the summer. After my induction I'll be going into a children's safeguarding team.

Financially I'm pretty short and am having to be very frugal before the next pay day. I have struggled financially a lot over the past few years and have borrowed a lot of money, so most of this year's salary will be directed at repaying those debts.

However, in the long term with the salary I'm on I will be pretty comfortable. I'm not used to earning this much money and, as I have no dependents and my living costs are generally quite low, this means I should have a large disposable income in relative terms.

My employers have a caseload promise and newly qualified social workers are expected to have 10 per cent less than the average social worker during their qualifying year, which I can imagine will be really helpful. Support from managers and good supervision are really important to me and I am happy to say that risk is really shared here.

Flexible working would make a difference to my work-life balance. I would like to work from home if there is less need for me to be in the office but that is more of a luxury than a necessity."

THE NURSERY MANAGER
JASMINE REDRUP

Job title Nursery manager

Employer Charity-run playgroup in the east of England (open 19.5 hours a week)

Annual salary £10,800 pro rata

Holiday entitlement Paid holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks a year. The nursery is a term-time only setting so staff do not take any holiday during the academic year.

Any additional benefits Pension, paid overtime, expenses for additional resources and travel costs to training courses. Discount of 50 per cent for staff with two- to four-year-old children needing to use the playgroup.

Training Training is paid for by the playgroup, which also paid the administration fees for me to complete my CACHE Level 4 Early Years Advanced Practitioner course.

"I have been manager of the setting since April 2018 and have been working here since January 2016.

I feel that I am paid fairly. It is my first managerial role in my early years career and the playgroup committee has given me a good hourly rate. They also ensure that I have a weekly administrative allowance for the time I work at home.

As a single parent I do struggle financially and have had to take on a cleaning job to help get me through each month.

Money-wise, it has actually got more difficult. As I progress up the career ladder it has meant that many forms of support I receive such as child and working tax credits have decreased, making it much harder to survive each month.

After bills and rent I find that around 10 days before my next pay date I am having to borrow money from family members to support myself and my son or go into my overdraft for a few days, which means my next wage packet is reduced after paying overdraft fees.

When my son attends breakfast club I face extra costs. I can't afford this every morning so rely on friends to take him to school. Funded childcare is really helpful for most families but once children start attending school, like my son, this help stops. Being able to have free childcare for his breakfast club sessions would help to ease some of the pressure.

Most of the paperwork from my job has to come home to be completed, meaning that I am rarely able to switch off. Just a few hours in a separate space would make all the difference and ease the pressure of having to keep on top of administrative work and also run a household.

I do, however, love working with children. It may not be the most highly paid job but I can't think of anything else I would rather do."