Ranging from £6.93 an hour for the lowest paid practitioners, to management pay of £10.95, even the highest earnings were nearly three pounds an hour beneath the £13.50 average across all sectors, as found by the Early Years Pay and Conditions Survey 2016.
The sector is renowned for its low pay, but the news of stagnation comes with warnings of a talent drain that is at odds with the Government’s pledge to drive up standards.
A workforce strategy has yet to be published by the Department for Education, which is carrying out a £300m reform of the free entitlement.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, described the results as ‘unsurprising’, given that early years funding has failed to reflect rising business costs and minimum wage increases.
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