Addressing low pay among early years staff is key if the government wants to deliver on its ambitions
Jack Worth, Lead Economist and Education Workforce Lead
| National Foundation for Educational Research
The government has bold ambitions for the quantity and quality of early years provision, which rely on having a workforce that is more attractive, to recruit and retain the extra staff required to deliver the childcare entitlement, and more highly skilled to improve children’s outcomes
September marked the rollout of the final stage of the government’s expansion of the free childcare entitlement, with eligible working parents now able to access free hours of early years provision for children from 9 months old. Alongside the increased quantity of places required to deliver the entitlement, the government’s early years strategy also focused on improving the quality of education children receive in early years settings.
The early years workforce is critical to achieving these quality and quantity goals. A report by the National Foundation of Educational Research (NFER) provides fresh insights on challenges in the early years workforce that could be a key barrier for delivering on the promise of childcare places made to parents.
Our research shows that the sector is likely to meet the government’s national requirement of recruiting 35,000 additional staff between 2023 and 2025 to meet the demand of the expanded entitlement. However, there is expected to be large regional variation in take-up patterns and therefore in the additional staff required. The absence of region-level staff data means it is not yet possible to assess how consistently demand across regions will be met – a key evidence gap for government to close.
Low pay is one of the key issues driving staff turnover, which is high among lower qualified staff. Our research finds that early years workers, as of 2022/23, earned on average 36 per cent less than workers in other sectors who are similar in terms of their age, sex, region, highest qualification and contracted working hours.
While individual providers are responsible for setting the pay for early years workers, government funding levels are the key determinant of the pay levels providers can afford. The government should therefore continue increasing funding rates so that early years providers can offer competitive wages to recruit and retain staff.
Just one in 10 of the workforce in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers – the bulk of early years provision – has a relevant degree-level qualification. Only a third of lower qualified staff report good career progression opportunities, likely indicating negative perceptions of both professional development and pay prospects.
Higher qualified staff can only be attracted and retained with higher contingent levels of pay. The pay structure therefore also needs to sufficiently reward upskilling to higher qualification levels and career progression, which is currently limited by pay compression.
The government must follow its bold ambitions with policy action to ensure it is both attractive enough to recruit and retain the staff numbers required to deliver the childcare entitlement and highly skilled to improve children’s outcomes.
Needless to say, this increase in provision is a welcome and significant step. But alongside this it is also vital that government builds a stronger evidence base by upgrading sources of workforce data and research. Commissioning a large-scale survey of early years staff and analysing data on staff numbers at a regional level would help ensure money is targeted where it is most needed and where it can be most effective.
