Editorial: We can't afford to sidestep poor pay any more

Subsequent proposals have laid the groundwork to professionalise the workforce. Commitments for all settings to be graduate-led by 2015, for staff in group settings to achieve a minimum Level 3 qualification and childminders a Level 2 qualification "over time" will raise the quality and status of the workforce. From a skills perspective, the birth-to-five curriculum, the Early Years Foundation Stage, has put the onus on practitioners to be educators as well as carers.

But one fundamental issue for early years workers continues to be sidestepped by government: pay and conditions. The Daycare Trust has this week issued a report calling on the government to examine the wider impact of poor pay (see p8). Remuneration for early years workers continues to lag comfortably behind all the other specialisms of the children's and young people's workforce. The fact the early years workforce is 98 per cent female is a firm nod to the gender pay gap.

Low pay is particularly acute in private, voluntary and independent settings, which operate the tightest of margins but employ the majority of practitioners. The Graduate Leader Fund, which has earmarked £305m over the next three years, is a welcome drive to fund the graduate salaries that will be required for managers in these settings.

But given the drive for a higher qualified workforce across the board, pay and conditions needs to be addressed for all practitioners. If prospective workers don't see incentives to achieving better qualifications to work in early years, the best of them will be attracted elsewhere.

The crucial point is this: a properly paid early years workforce is essential because of the wider economic and social goals that result from enabling parents to work and giving children the best start in life. Providers are of course hamstrung in their ability to increase staff salaries by the need to keep childcare affordable for parents.

The children's workforce strategy, due out shortly, will be a key moment. It is not going to wave a magic wand and summon barrel-loads of new money to boost salaries. But it must at least set the wheels in motion to tackle the scandal that so many early years workers, who are key to delivering the government's pledge to end child poverty, are themselves so close to the poverty line.