The childcare time bomb?

[HelenaDove]

inews.co.uk/news/childcare-jobs-underpaid-education-epi-report/

"Childcare workers are poorly qualified, underpaid and struggling to recruit more staff, research suggests. 'Many workers are experiencing serious financial hardship,' one of the report's authors warned

The Early Years Workforce in England report, published on Thursday, reveals that those in the childcare sector face increasing financial pressures and have few opportunities to gain higher qualifications. Nursery nurses, childminders, play workers, and teaching and educational support assistants have suffered real-term pay losses of 5 per cent since 2013, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) found. Dr Sara Bonetti, of the EPI, said: “There is overwhelming evidence that high-quality childcare plays a vital role in the outcomes of a child’s life, with a skilled, qualified workforce absolutely central to delivering this

“This report should therefore concern parents who use childcare services and the government, which regards high-quality early years education as crucial to social mobility. “We find that the childcare workforce is poorly qualified, and faces a number of recruitment problems – with many workers experiencing serious financial hardship.

Half claiming benefits

Average hourly pay for a childcare worker was revealed to be £8.20 in 2018 and almost half (44.5 per cent) were claiming state benefits or tax credits

Recruitment is also proving problematic in a sector predominantly female and ageing. The report claims that only 1.8 per cent of nursery nurses and assistants and 4 per cent of childminders are male and around 90,000 of childcare workers last year were 55 years old or above.

Best start in life

Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi said:”We want every child to have the best start in life, with access to early education that sets them up to succeed later in life. The vast majority of early years providers – 95% – are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, but there is always more to do.” “That’s why we are improving the training and professional development available to the early years workforce, including through our £20 million programme targeted at those working in more deprived areas.” “We continue to work closely with the sector to look for ways to increase diversity among early years staff, provide better career information and support, and develop new criteria for early years qualifications to improve their professional skills."

Yes the pay is really rubbish and the pressure from ofsted is huge.. they want more but with less money.
I struggle to get good qualified staff and I find it hard to keep them for long as they tend to leave to work in retail or similar.
And the quailty if workes just isn’t their anymore
We are under valued and work so hard
Ive worked in this sector for years and the last year or so I’m very close to calling it quits and doing something else because the joy has been sucked out by ofsted And the local authority

I also think in years to come all childcare will be accessed through school and over time private day care and preschool will be priced out

The UK has one of the densest child-adult ratios for childcare in Europe--many other countries have looser ratios (more kids per adults) but have good outcomes as far as I can see. Perhaps we need to embrace the taboo and seriously discuss the idea of having slightly fewer but better paid staff? The UK already has very expensive childcare by international standards.

It’s because it’s pre compulsory education. The same has happened in the post compulsory education sector. Salaries have been cut to virtually minimum wage, resources are non existent, and professionals are trying to do the best job they can but can’t afford to continue in the long term. Quality is suffering as staff with other prospects leave for greener pastures. It’s dreadful all round

Why on earth arent childcare workers paid what they are worth.

So they dont have to claim tax credits. There are a hell of a lot of affluent parents on here who cant wait to benefit bash and social housing bash but seem to have a blind spot when the chiildcare workers that care for their children are having to claim tax credits.

Probably because most parents cannot afford to and childcare isn't subsidised enough.

I work part time and I have 2 DC at nursery. I'm already paying 3k more for nursery than my wage and that's before we consider taxes from my salary. We would be bankrupt if I worked full time.

Yes it will all move into schools. When playgroups that were run successfully for decades by ‘aunties’ had to close because of ofsted requirements and pressure to offer ‘free hours’ that don’t actually cover costs.

I’m going to be controversial here, all that paperwork and learning journal assessments my childminders, nurseries and playgroups have produced for my kids over the years are not really worth the hard work gone into mandatorily producing them.

I want the person looking after my kids making sure my child is happy, loved, warm, fed and changed regularly. I couldn’t care less what developmental goals were worked on.

Children of SAHM follow none of the guff and their kids still turn out alright.

A good childcare practitioner or parent will know when a child is developmentally behind and will work on helping them anyway.

I had a look on the Bright Horizons web page for become a nursery assistant both qualified and unqualified for London.

Salaries start at 18k and the most highly paid non-senior management role 22k.

IN LONDON FFS.

Our daughters nursery has lost excellent, kind, decent, caring staff to shops, car garages, reception in an office because it’s a job where these girls (and one guy, god I miss him) just can’t afford shit.

They keep our children safe; look after them, teach them...good nursery workers are worth their weight in gold and shit pay = demoralised workforce = poor care. It’s starting to happen at the nursery my baby son is at and we may have to pull him out.

I’m ranting but there must be a better way, surely?

I work as a special needs teaching assistant in a special school. I love my job but feel that I am going to have to leave as I am struggling on 11k a year to look after my family (single mum). I know once universal credit kicks in we are going to be in an even worse position so it's just not worth it. I'm currently studying to get higher qualifications through work but according to other members of staff it doesn't make much difference to your wages.

So many people are leaving so it can't just be me who's struggling and the school just can't seem to replace them.

PaulHollywood I worked at a different chain in London until 2014 and I was on £16.5k full time as the 'Early Years Professional' (level 6/graduate)
I left of course.

DSs nursery is amazing and the staff seem lovely...and a mix of young and middle age. I'm so nosy about how much they get paid!

I think childcare is a public good and should be heavily subsidised personally. My bestmate pays €300 a month for a full time place in the nursery of a nice private school. The nursery across the road from my Nonna in Italy was €1300 a year.

It's not just childcare workers who are poorly qualified, underpaid etc. The care industry is run for profit, charges are high but standards are low. It doesn't matter if it's care for pre-schoolers, after school care, holiday clubs, disability care or elder care. There is little respect for care workers, they are poorly paid and trained yet the companies providing care services make significant profits from the high fees they charge service users.

The nursery across the road from my Nonna in Italy was €1300 a year

(Faints)

What I’d like to see is how wages compare to the Netherlands - the only other place in W Europe with childcare dearer than the UK (particularly SE England).

Don’t be fooled, I came across some dour, unmotivated, past-caring nursery staff in my time over there but I wonder how pay compares.

I would love for nursery workers to be paid more, the ones at my DC nursery are fabulous. However, they'll price themselves out of work I guess by putting their prices up. People just wouldn't be able to afford it.

I don't know what the answer is but agree it's a shit state of affairs.

In the German system ratios are higher but that there's one qualified preschool teacher (qualified via a 3 year apprenticeship not a degree, but it's on a different level to UK apprenticeship with serious academic content and a heavy load of written exams as well as in practice assessment) per room and all other staff have a one year apprenticeship.

The preschool teachers for 3-6 year olds start on 30,000€ and can expect to be on 43,000€ eventually, buy their 40s if they start the apprenticeship straight after school. The less qualified childcarers with the one year apprenticeship start on 26,000€ and can earn up to 36,000€ maximum.

Childcare is state subsidised but parents pay on a scale depending on income and location.

By not buy and other typos

Childcare is so difficult because it is essential not a luxury, but it is one so few can afford. We were paying £871 a month (living in the north west) when our eldest was full time. A lot of people earn that a month! After the second was born I went part time and have slowly increased my hours as she has become eligible for free hours.

People cannot afford to pay more and so workers won't get paid more. My mum has been managing a nursery for years on less than 20k a year. She is lucky my Dad earns enough to cover the shortfall.

The problem with finding is people who are earn 99k are able to access free 30 hours. Nursery workers are subsidising people who are on very good wages.
The funding needs to be on a sliding scale.
The funding for well paid workers was a vote winner and needs to stop.

Childcare is so difficult because it is essential not a luxury, but it is one so few can afford. We were paying £871 a month (living in the north west) when our eldest was full time donor would be better if you had more funding and some on a higher income had less

.

I agree they should be better paid but the nursery I’m looking at in London is £65 a day (my child isn’t going full time)....i couldn’t afford more- is anyone profiting from nursery’s? Is the answer a tax break for them?

2 of the staff at my daughters nursery left to be cleaners as it paid more.

I want the person looking after my kids making sure my child is happy, loved, warm, fed and changed regularly. I couldn’t care less what developmental goals were worked on.

I couldn't agree more.

My DSis has a degree in childhood studies or some such but since graduating has never managed to find a reasonable job. She has worked for LA settings but her hours are always subject to review at very short notice.

She currently works in a nursery on a zero hours basis, is alone with too many children and is having to spend a lot of unpaid time planning.