It comes at a time when the Government is preparing to roll-out the first phase of its expanded funded childcare, which will require an increase in places in early years settings and extra staff to meet a rise in demand.
The report, ‘Retention and return: delivering the expansion of early years entitlement in England’, reveals that two-thirds (67 per cent) of nurseries already have average wait times of almost six months for a place. It says when turnover intention rates are combined with increased demand, an estimated 50,000 additional staff would be needed in 2024 and again in 2025 to maintain existing provision and provide the expanded entitlement.
Published by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC), it also estimates that the number of childcare places in England would need to grow by 6 per cent to meet the increase in demand.
However, just 17 per cent of nursery managers said they don’t plan to increase their number of places, while 35 per cent and many will limit the number of places they offer without more Government support to retain and recruit staff.
'The expansion will be nothing more than a pipe dream without urgent action'.
The Early Years Alliance (EYA) warned that unless the Government takes ‘urgent action to tackle the worrying trend, the expansion will be nothing more than a pipe dream, leaving families disappointed and vital money and time wasted.’
The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said ‘without a clear workforce strategy there is no direction and the Government’s policy will be undeliverable.’
Both are members of the Coalition.
Key findings from the report, which is based upon interviews and focus groups with 60 people and a survey of 994 nursery staff/managers and childminder, include:
- 57 per cent of nursery staff and 38 per cent of childminders are considering leaving the sector in the next year.
- Staff were four times more likely to quit their jobs if there was a lack of training opportunities.
- Half of staff reported that they do not have a regular access to paid leave to undertake training and 66 per cent said that funding or costs were a major barrier to accessing training.
- Just 17 per cent of nursery managers said they would increase the number of places they offered.
- 35 per cent of managers said they would limit the number of places they offered unless there was more Government support to retain and recruit staff.
- 70 per cent of nursery managers think it is time for a new funding model.
The findings also reveal a ‘notable’ increase in the number of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in early year settings. A total of 87 per cent of nursery respondents and 63 per cent of childminders reported that they were working with or assessing more children with SEND, often without the necessary specialist support the child needs.
'If the Government is to have any chance of delivering this expansion, it must listen to the people on the ground'.
Sarah Ronan, director of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, said, ‘Promising more free childcare without the infrastructure to deliver it is raising false hope among already struggling families.
‘If the Government is to have any chance of delivering this expansion, it must listen to the people on the ground educating and caring for our children. Years of underfunding have left them underpaid, overworked and feeling disrespected. It doesn’t matter if it's more free hours from this Government or wholesale reform from Labour, the fact is nothing will change for parents or children unless we have a well-paid and valued workforce.’
Tackling the 'staffing crisis'
The report puts forward a number of recommendations to help tackle the staffing crisis in the short term, alongside longer- term reforms to improve sustainability. The short-term ‘rescue’ measures include:
- Increasing early years funding rates with the expectation that providers will use this to boost pay.
- Re-establishing a career development hub at the Department for Education (DfE).
- Providing more on-site training to reduce the need to spend time away from a setting.
- Ensuring access to funded, universal, high-quality SEND training.
- Developing a system for bank staff at local authority level which enables staff to take time out for training, with no negative implications for their setting.
- Ensuring the ‘Experts and Mentoring Scheme’ for childminders becomes a permanent programme.
- Restarting the Graduate-led Grant Scheme and set a target to achieve a graduate led workforce by 2028.
